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TRIBUTE: GERHARD SPIES, MAMARONECK HUMANITARIANby Adele Shansky (September 24, 2007) Gerhard Spies, humanitarian and dedicated community volunteer, died on September 15, 2007 at age 90.
He was the past president of the local chapter of B'nai B'rith. He was the Westchester Jewish Center’s first executive director and a past president of the Brotherhood. This summer, Gerhard was just completing a plan for a Holocaust memorial for the synagogue, a project that he single-handedly nursed from its conception to its becoming a reality. In recognition of his outstanding commitment to the greater Mamaroneck community, Gerhard received the 2005 Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission Award. (See: Gerhard Spies is Human Rights Honoree for 2005.) He had also been the recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Excellence in Community Service Award. But, even more like Gerhard, for his 90th birthday last winter, he invited 160 people from all walks of life to a luncheon to thank them for helping him in his community endeavors. There is no end to the lives that Gerhard Spies touched. NEW (Bike) RACKS FOR OLD AT LARCHMONT STATIONInfrastructure for Bikes, Lessons in Civics & Perisitence for Proponentsby Adam Glass (September 6, 2007) New racks with capacity for 40 bikes were installed on the upper parking deck at the Larchmont train station this summer after a nearly three year effort by local residents to improve parking for bicycle commuters at the station. To the small band of bike riders who have been working with the Village of Larchmont and Metro North to bring about improved conditions for bicycles at the station since October 2003, the new racks, and their counterparts installed by Metro North a year ago, represented a civic improvement idea that seemed simple. But the journey from concept to reality was anything but. Why I ride. Since moving to Larchmont in 1990, I have commuted by train to New York City, where I work as a lawyer. At first, I signed up for a parking permit and drove to the station. Chronically late, I began speeding to the station and driving the wrong way into the parking lot to reach the empty spots at the back, saving 90 seconds and possibly catching the train. After a near collision, I came to my senses and traded my car for a heavy, one speed cruiser bike. Now, finding a place to park and lock the bike became the problem. First efforts. In the fall of 2003, I joined other bike riders in expressing concerns about facilities at the station to then-Mayor Ken Bialo and the Village trustees. We wanted to piggy-back dramatic but inexpensive improvements for bikes onto the planned remodeling of the station by Metro North. Bike commuting was a natural for Larchmont, we felt, and could be made even more popular if the facilities were improved. The problem. Though the train station had numerous bike racks, they were dysfunctional and designed for use with old-fashioned locks. Many bike riders shunned the provided racks and instead locked their bicycles to fences or signposts, creating a cluttered and disorderly tableau.
Cat and mouse. The Village Department of Public Works viewed this practice as violating unwritten rules. It found ways to make its displeasure known, typically by cutting the locks and hauling the bikes away. Snowbound. Many riders cycled to the station through winter’s coldest days. But often, snow was plowed from the parking lots onto the bike racks, burying rack and bikes under 8 to 10 feet of snow. The bike commuters disagreed with the de facto pro-automobile bias governing the station parking area. We knew we could create a virtuous feedback loop: with proper bicycle parking, more residents would be enticed to leave their cars at home and bike to the station. Meet the trustees. Our initial meeting with the Village Board took place on January 10, 2004. I was joined by local residents Jim Allen, Malcolm Frouman, Terence Pare and Rich Randall. Sarah Khedouri and Jan Feinman from the Village Parks and Trees Committee asked to be included in furtherance of their goal to create an identity for the Village as a “pedestrian and cycling oasis.” Board members were immediately sympathetic, and Mayor Bialo said that if we put a plan together, he would contact Metro North to request a meeting. Early winter morning meetings between Metro North, Village officials and bike representatives followed. The willingness of Village and Metro North officials to show up in inclement weather at inconvenient hours to walk the station discussing the best possible locations for bike racks was impressive. The bike riders and the officials didn’t always see eye to eye. We wanted the racks to be as close as possible to the rider’s destination, encouraging drivers to switch. But Metro North wanted the racks in a single location and away from their storage shed and electrical box. Success, stage one. The first fruit of the effort came two years later, in July 2006, when Metro North installed “wave” style racks with a nominal capacity for parking 50 bikes (and an actual capacity for parking 25 bikes) on the southeast (Connecticut-bound) side. After the racks were installed, the number of bikes parked at the station increased noticeably. The municipal maze. Now it was time to tackle the other side of the track, where the Village was responsible. Our ranks had swelled and Jim Millstein and Marlene Kolbert had become involved as Trustees. Success, stage two. After I met various times with Joe Bedard (the very manager of Public Works whom I believed to have presided over the numerous “bikenappings” of the bad old days), the siting, quantity and method of installation for racks on the upper parking deck was approved. The racks were purchased with private donations and delivered to the Village. Within days of their receipt, they were installed.
The new racks in the upper deck were immediately popular with railroad patrons; on a summer Friday afternoon I counted 18 bikes and motor scooters parked in the new racks (including mine). Lessons learned. To quote Jack Lemmon in “The Odd Couple,” “You have to make gravy. It doesn’t just come.” Persistent effort and multiple meetings were necessary for the bike riders to communicate their concerns effectively and learn what Metro North and the Village could deliver. In the end, the train station has attractive, secure bike racks with a capacity for approximately 90 bikes, substantially more than at other stations in Westchester. It was hard to keep pushing on the bike project at times, on top of work and family obligations. I came away with new respect for our volunteer board, responsible for much more than a single project. Likewise, I came to admire the professionalism, savvy and dedication of Joe Bedard and his crew at the Department of Public Works. I like to think the new bike racks will contribute in a small way to environmental responsibility and neighborliness in the Village of Larchmont. I would like to thank everyone who participated in this project. By persevering in our efforts for better bike parking, we helped ensure that the sight of grown men and women wending their way to and from the station on bicycles will remain a distinctive part of the texture of life in the Village--“ Amsterdam on the Sound,” at least in this one respect—in the years to come.
MAMARONECK SCHOOLS - "A LITTLE BIT RACIST"?by Elana Congress (June 14, 2007) MHS is a widely respected school in which academic success and personal growth are prized. Located in the diverse town of Mamaroneck, it is a place where students of all ethnicities are able to achieve and learn together. In the process, young scholars gain insight into different cultures and new perspectives on the world around them. Maybe this sounds too much like something off the Mamaroneck Union Free School District website. It’s not. We like to believe that we benefit from the diversity at MHS, and that here, young people not yet aware of racial differences form real friendships based on personality instead of appearance. Unfortunately, though, such dreams are rarely realized. Ethnic groups tend to clump together almost instinctively. Humans naturally feel most comfortable around those who are similar to them, so it makes sense that such a pattern occurs. Could this be because we’re a little bit racist? “Look around and you will find, no one’s really colorblind…everyone makes judgments based on race” proclaims the Avenue Q song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.” At first, such an idea might seem shocking and completely ludicrous. But if you think about it, there’s a little thread of fact to it. Think about your outlook towards others of different races. Think about the media, your family, your friends, the books you read, the movies you see. Your grandmother who insists she isn’t racist and then insults the Italians down the street. It can be hard to remain “colorblind” in today’s world. I don’t think that the environment at MHS helps. White, wealthy kids dominate the honors and Advanced Placement classes, and the majority of kids who eat lunch in the Café are ethnic minorities. Also, whites tend to dominate clubs and organizations at MHS. There are so many ways to get involved, but sometimes I feel like the same 50 students are running our school. Throughout MHS, self-segregation is commonplace. And once honors tracks replace the mixed classes of freshman and sophomore year, even the appearance of diversity is lost. Junior and senior years tend to see a dramatic widening of the race gap. Honors classes are composed predominantly of white students, which is not true for regular classes. More than 95% of students recently inducted into the National Honor Society were white. According to Joan Rosen, the Director of Public Information at MHS, 78% of the class of 2006 was white. Obviously, the correlation between race and achievement has nothing to do with native intelligence. It’s more likely related to financial status. According to the 2000 census (www.census.gov), 8.1% of whites in America were liiving below poverty level in 1999, compared to 22.6% of Latinos. Simply put, it’s easier to thrive academically if your family has the money to pay for a tutor or buy review books. But the real problem in this district is that the racial divide exists before we can even spell the word “diversity.” Starting as far back as kindergarten, students of the same race are often clustered together simply because of the elementary school system. In Mamaroneck, kids attend the elementary school nearest to them. Families of similar economic status and race often live near one another in similar conditions, which results in elementary schools with skewed diversity. I went to Chatsworth, and there was only one African-American kid in our entire grade. Mamaroneck Avenue School, meanwhile, hosts a disproportionate share of minorities. It can’t be denied that an enormous racial separation exists in our school and community. This is an issue that must be addressed. We have ignored the problem for too long for fear of getting involved in a touchy subject. It’s time that we start facing reality and reforming the racial issues within our school. If we start to affect change in our community, we can prevent self-segregation in the future. The district could restructure the elementary school system to create a balanced student population from the get-go. Instead of dividing up kids to attend each elementary school by neighborhood, the district could randomly choose which kids would go to each school in order to ensure that from a young age students are exposed to people that are different from them in terms of race and social status. Also, maybe youth athletic teams from Larchmont and Mamaroneck could be combined. The point is that the sooner kids are exposed to diversity, the better able they will be to assimilate with others who are different from them. More intensive tutoring and mentoring programs should be implemented in the elementary and middle schools to try to narrow the achievement gap before it becomes an issue. We must confront the issue now and reform the system in order to make academic success accessible to all students, regardless of race or economic background. Elana Congress is a junior at Mamaroneck High School.
1944 KEMPER LETTERS REMINDER OF WAR'S PAINFUL COSTby Paul Cantor (May 21, 2007) HAD NICE TRIP TO COLUMBIA SEND NOSE DROPS LOVE=DICK. The telegram was addressed to my grandparents and sent by Western Union on January 31, 1944. Columbia is Columbia, South Carolina. Dick was Richard M. Kemper, my uncle. Send nose drops? They must have treasured every single word he ever wrote. I’m glad they did because along with that telegram there were scores of letters all neatly filed away in notebooks. Richard enlisted in the U.S. army in March 1943. He received training at Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Camp McCain, Mississippi and Camp Forrest, Tennessee. A varsity wrestler in college, by the end of his training he was an expert in hand to hand combat and a second lieutenant in an elite fighting corps called the Rangers. In May, 1944, Richard was shipped to England where he was given a desk job. But his letters make it clear that he would have preferred to be leading troops in combat.
Finally, in July Richard was shipped to Normandy, France.
Those are the last words my grandparents received from Uncle Richard. He was killed when a mortar shell exploded next to him as he was standing by one of those hedgerows he wrote about; killed in what has been called “The Battle of the Hedgerows,” the allies’ effort to push the Germans out of Normandy after the fall of Cherbourg; killed while commanding a regiment in or near Mortain, France on August 6, 1944 exactly two months after D-Day. Three years later my grandparents purchased a plot of land beside Mamaroneck High School which they deeded to the school district to be “maintained in perpetuity” as a memorial to their son and the other 98 former Mamaroneck High students who were killed in World War II. There they placed benches and a commemorative stone tablet with 99 names chiseled into it. Then every year till the day they died they made it a family tradition to visit Richard Kemper Park for Memorial Day ceremonies. Neither of them ever said a word at those ceremonies. Not one word. Yet somehow they made it clear that we weren't there just to sing the Star Spangled Banner and listen to patriotic speeches. Much more importantly, we were there to remember Uncle Richard by dedicating ourselves to fashioning a world governed by the enlightenment values he and so many others died to defend. So once again on Memorial Day 2007 as I stand in Richard Kemper Park with my hand over my heart reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, I shall be thinking about how I can contribute to building a global community in which liberty and justice are every individual's birthright, human rights are respected everywhere by everyone, and no one ever again suffers, as my grandparents suffered, the deeply painful personal costs of war. Paul Cantor, Richard Kemper's nephew, lives in Norwalk, CT.
MRS. COACH: JULIE GILLIGAN Editors Note: In 1997, Julie Gilligan of Larchmont recalled in the “Our Town” section of The Journal News what it was like before the age of the “Soccer Mom.” Long-term residents of Larchmont will remember Ms. Gilligan, who died last month, as a committed community volunteer and professional writer for many publications, including the Larchmont Gazette. (See: Obituaries: Julia Ann Gilligan.) They may have forgotten that she was also one of Larchmont’s first female soccer coaches. Thanks to the Journal News for allowing the “Our Town” piece to be reproduced here as a tribute to Julie Gilligan. “Mrs. Coach”by Julie Gilligan (May 10, 2007; first published in The Journal News on February 16, 1997) It was a Saturday morning in May 1977. Larchmont dads were signing up to be volunteer coaches in St. Augustine’s School auditorium for the fall season of the new Junior Soccer League. Pele was the famous player then. His promoter lived Larchmont with young children of soccer age, so there was a lot of local enthusiasm and support for the league. As a young widow raising five children alone, I was having breakfast and discussing my youngest son with his oldest brothers and sisters who were just home from college.
Later that Saturday on the way to the Grand Union for weekly grocery shopping, I registered as a volunteer coach for the fall. Aside from a few surprised faces, nothing was said. The summer went by, and on another Saturday in September I read in the local paper that the teams had been organized and games had begun. Undaunted, I phoned the local Larchmont judge, Joe Clifford, at home, since he was the only person I knew on the soccer board. “Hey Joe, no one called me about coaching a soccer team and the games have begun. What happened” There was a brief pause. Then after some hemming and hawing he responded: “Sure, we will have to do something about his, I guess.” Later that week, I received a phone call saying that I was getting at team of sixth-graders. They were all the “leftover” kids who signed up. And, did I mind that one of them was a girl. No one knew what to do with her. The next weekend, I met my eager team and they were all anxious to learn the game. They knew they were behind in practices. Each coach was expected to get books about soccer and learn the rules and plays. A mid-week team practice was obligatory after school on Wednesdays. This presented a temporary problem, because I worked in a company that did not warm up to the idea of giving and times off for volunteer work. Another daughter, Patricia, attending the local high school, saved the day. She offered to take the team on Wednesdays and help them practice. The enthusiastic, but novice team began to play real games on the schedule. The fall leaves began to drop. The weather got colder, with a lot of rainy Saturdays and Sundays on mud-soaked fields. But the games went on and the sixth–grade team began to gel by themselves. One emphasis I insisted on before each practice or game was that they were there to have fun, learn a new sport, and an important part of soccer was good sportsmanship. At the close of every game, the winning and losing team lined up in a formal way to shake hands all around and congratulate the winners. Players came to love this tradition. Another innovation was taking place on the team. During the early practices, the young players asked if they could try all the different positions. Absolutely, I answered. “This is supposed to be fun, remember?’ Little by little, the players found the niche on the team where they felt comfortable. But more important, since they now understood every position, they knew how to help and support each other. An incredible sense of teamwork marked the group. The lone girl was a halfback because she was a fast runner. There was never any comment about the fact that she was a a girl. These players worked as a solid team. Lo and behold, the team began to win, game after game. There was much support from their parents who came to the games, and lots of hugs all around when they won. There was a possible problem looming with just one of the players’ dad. He was a a rather pompous man, a very successful corporate executive and a prominent community figure. He began to walk behind me, giving loud directions about plays and positions on the team. I ignored him. One Saturday at the height of a close match, I happened to notice that two other fathers were walking the man down the side on the field away from the game. I never knew what transpired but his father was a docile and silent spectator from that time on. The games continued to Thanksgiving and finally, the teams were in the playoffs. As fate would have it, the team of “left-overs” make the finals, as one of the two teams with the highest scores on the league. In soccer, the better of the two winners is determined by a shoot-out. The goalies on the teams kick a certain number of balls in the net, and the highest number of balls kicked into the net marks the winning team. However, both teams were to receive the renowned Larchmont Pele Cup. Pele himself was giving the awards for the year at the soccer dinner at Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, attended by players, coaches and families. It was a special night for Larchmont.
Larchmont Mayor Maurice Noyer gives soccer star Pele the "key" to the village in 1976. Photo courtesy of The Larchmont Historical Society The big day arrived, and the goalie on the opposing team made the most kicks in the shoot-out. But there is more to the story. The losing team came out way ahead in sportsmanship and learned a lesson they will never forget. The coach on the other team got so ecstatic when his goalie won, that he started dancing up and down, yelling, “We beat the Cinderella team, we beat the Cinderella team! While both teams of players looked on in shock, he danced away down the sidelines shouting he was the winner and forgot all about lining up the teams for the formal closing ceremony. I said nothing, but a boy on my team came up and took my hand. He said quietly, “If I were bigger, I would ‘Cinderella’ that man for speaking to you that way!” Later this boy became a popular star football player, a fullback, at Mamaroneck High School. The night of the soccer dinner was another shock. None of the coaches would speak to me. They could not face the fact that a woman had won and that her son was not on her team. After dinner, I phoned Judge Clifford again and suggested that he put a woman on the soccer board, which he graciously did the following year. Copyright The Journal News. Reprinted with permission.
BATTLE OF THE FINCHESby Harold Wolfson, photos by Fred Levine (May 3, 2007) For the past week I have been having a test of wills with a pair of house finches. They are little sparrow-like birds. Unlike the sparrow, the male has red on his breast and head. They hang around all winter and if you have a feeder, they are the ones most often there. They often try to chase away sparrows, chickadees, titmice and other small competitors.
Also, they are the ones spraying seeds from the feeder till they find just the right one. Last year when Marian and I returned from an extended trip, we noticed they had built a nest on top of our kitchen fan outlet which has a little metal tent over it. My first response was, “How inventive.” They’ll be protected from the rain and high enough so the black cat up our street can’t disturb them. Also, the fan unit is too snug to allow a large winged predator, such as a blue jay, crow, or passing hawk, to enter and snatch eggs or young chicks.
All of this is to say that a week ago, Sunday, while looking around the yard to assess my upcoming spring gardening chores I noticed a house finch fly up to the kitchen fan with a long straw in its beak. I climbed the stairs of a porch nearby and sure enough, there it was - a finch nest about half-built. Finches don’t build neat little nests, with minimal material, where everything lines up fit and square. They grab straw and twigs, long and short, twisted and straight, and pile them up helter-skelter till when they are finished the nest looks like a waste pile. “Oh, no,” I said, “not this time.” I like birds. I like to watch them. I have two occupied bird houses in the yard and a well-stocked bird feeder, but I am not about to be a patsy for finches who can just as well set up housekeeping elsewhere.
My feeling at the time was neutral. I had accomplished my mission. I wasn’t mad. In fact, I hoped the couple would be successful somewhere else. So, I went about my business. But the next morning, after Marian and I had done our exercises and had breakfast, I went outside and happened to look at the prior day’s crime site. I almost couldn’t believe it. Most of the debris I had removed was back up there. Back I went to the garage. Back up the stairs. Off came that wretched mess. In the afternoon, sensing I had undertaken a hostile effort with an uncertain outcome, I revisited what was now a war zone. Back were the straw and twigs. Both birds were at it. By evening, I had again cleaned the fan outlet, the third time that day. The next morning, the test of wills continued. On, off, on, off. And Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the same. It is now Saturday noon, the seventh day since it all began. I was standing on the porch with my “equalizer.” The nest was more complete than any day previously. The only thing that might have been worse, from my perspective, was that they might already have been living there and had produced two little chicks to watch me commit mayhem. The finch were in a nearby Japanese maple, watching. Marian joined me. Now, how am I feeling about this? I am unbowed, but also less resolute. We stood there together, quietly, watching. After a while I said, “I sort of admire their pluck and industry.” She agreed. “I’m sort of two minds,” I said. “Would it be terrible if we let them stay?” She shrugged. It was a move suggesting compromise. “OK, I’m going to call it a truce,” I said. I went down the stairs with my “equalizer,” not in defeat, though not in victory. It won’t be great to have the fan out of commission, I realized. But we can always keep the windows open. Harold and Marian Wolfson are long-term residents of Larchmont.
VOM DEMS RESPOND TO APPOINTMENT OF TONY FAVA AS DEPUTY MAYORby Elsa Puerto-Rubin, Chair of the Village of Mamaroneck Democratic Party Editor’s Note: On Monday, April 9, 2007 Mamaroneck Village Mayor Philip Trifiletti appointed Tony Fava as trustee and deputy mayor to replace Bill Paonessa, who resigned unexpectedly two weeks ago. (VOM Board Nixes Turf Study; Deputy Mayor Resigns.) Mr. Fava, a Republican, owns and operates an independent Allstate insurance agency in Mamaroneck and was a candidate for trustee in 2006. (See: Seven Going After Three Trustee Seats in Mamaroneck Village.) He was also a witness in the 2006 federal civil rights law suit brought on behalf of six unnamed day laborers against Mamaroneck Village officials. (See: Judge Extends Talks on Day Labor Suit: No Site In Sight.) Ms. Puerto Rubin's response, below, consists entirely of quotes from a September 2006 ruling in the day labor case by Judge Colleen McMahon: 83 . Tony Fava is the head of a group known as the Washingtonville Neighborhood Association. 84 . Mr. Fava testified that the “biggest problem” in the Washingtonville neighborhood was gangs, and that other problems included crimes such as prostitution, drug sales, stabbings, assaults and burglaries. 85. There is no evidence in this record or in the records of the Police Department that were produced at trial linking any of this activity to day laborers. 86. Mr. Fava testified that these types of criminal activity were concentrated not just at Columbus Park but also at Pape’s Park and the intersection of Madison Street and Old White Plains Road. 87. Although the Mayor testified at trial that he had received numerous complaints from neighborhood residents concerning incidents urination, defecation, drug use, littering and increased traffic, his contemporaneous public comments were otherwise. From the time the Site opened in August of 2004 until September of 2005, the Mayor repeatedly stated that he had not received any complaints about the day laborers in Columbus Park from residents or police, and expressed satisfaction with the way the side was operating. 88. Although Chief Flynn and his Executive Lieutenant, James Gaffney, testified at trial that the Village had received numerous, often repeated, complaints about the conduct of the day laborers, the Police Department Log reflects very few such complaints. At a January 2006 meeting of a task force created to address issues relating to day laborers (the “Day Laborers Task Force”), Sgt. Ferraro reported that, despite claims of increased numbers of laborers at the Site, “there had not been more problems.” 89. To the extent Village officials did received complaints from residents concerning the behavior of the day laborers, the Village took no steps to investigate and determine whether those complaints were genuine and/or whether they were motivated, consciously or unconsciously, by racial animus towards the day laborers. 96. Mr. Fava has been and remains a vocal opponent of the presence of day laborers in and around the Columbus Park areas. 97. Mr. Fava attended several meetings of the Day Laborer Task Force. At one meeting, held on January 19, 2006, he warned members of the task force about the “serious penalties against knowingly employing illegal immigrants and helping them in certain other ways”, and expressed concern that the day laborers in Columbus Park “could be sex offenders,” and that this might violate a recently enacted state law. 98. There is no evidence that any day laborer is or ever was a sex offender. 99. Almost every morning between mid-December 2005 and January 7, 2006, Mr. Fava took photographs of the day laborers at the parking lot in Columbus Park, ostensibly for the purpose of creating an accurate record of the number of workers utilizing the area. 100. Mr. Fava’s photographs show between eight and twenty-four laborers seeking work in the park on any given day. 101. As noted above, the Hispanic Resource Center’s records indicate that the number of day laborers gathering in the parking lot to seek work during November and December 1005 was at a seasonal low, with an average of 25 laborers using the parking lot each day in November and 27 using it each day in December. These numbers are nearly identical to the prior’s winter’s average of 28 laborers using the parking lot each day in November 2004 and 24 laborers using it each day in December 2004. 102. The Hispanic Resource Center’s records indicate that the number of day laborers utilizing the site each day began to increase in January 2006 – just as it had in January 2005 – to an average daily number of 39 laborers, with a high of 62 day laborers. This, of course, is well below the number being bandied by Mr. Fava, Mayor Trifiletti and Trustee Angilletta. 110. The decision to close the Site was motivated by the uncorroborated complaints of residents of the Washingtonville community (like Fava) and businesspeople in the area (like Marni Ranini-Nigro). 111. Following the January 23, 2006 Board meeting, Trustee Angilletta made public comments comparing day laborers to “locusts”, stating that the “are takers. They come in here and take, and they won’t ever give back to the community.” 112. Trustee Angilletta testified that his comments were directed at day laborers from outside the village, who were coming to the Village in larger numbers. However, the hard evidence – whether from Janet Rolon’s notes or Tony Fava’s photographs – does not bear out Angilletta’s ex post facto contention that large number of day laborers were flocking to the Village from other municipalities; indeed, Rolon’s numbers indicate that there were no more day laborers in Mamaroneck during December 2005 and January 2006 than there were in December 2004 and January 2005. Therefore, his testimony about the reason for and target of his remarks is not credible. 126. Tony Fava, in addition to being the head of the Washingtonville Neighborhood Program, is also a Village Traffic Commissioner. 127. On February 8, 2006 – one week following the closure of the Site – Mr. Fava made a motion to amend the Village traffic code by making Sheldrake Place, which leads onto Van Ranst Place, a “no through trucks” street. Fava also seconded a motion designating most portions of Van Ranst Place as “no standing.” 128. The “source of complaint” listed on each of these motions was the Chief of Police. 129. On March 13, 2006, the Village Board of Trustees passed a resolution adopting Mr. Fava’s proposed change. 130. Van Ranst Place was a “no-through trucks” street prior to March 2006, but the Village did not put up signs warning of this prohibition until after the hiring site was closed in 2006. 131 . The Village’s contention that these actions had nothing to do with the day laborers is not credible in view of the totality of the evidence. To read the judge's entire ruling click on: http://www.prldef.org/Civil/mamaroneck.pdf
CAN WE FOLLOW SPITZER'S LEAD ON OPEN GOVERNMENT?by Ned Benton On his first day in office, Governor Eliott Spitzer issued a series of executive orders that will transform transparency and open government in New York. Executive order #3, titled “Promotion of Public Access to Government Decisionmaking,” requires that, with few exceptions, public meetings of state agencies be broadcast over the Internet. While this order does not apply to local governments, it reminds us that Internet technology offers opportunities for dramatic improvements in government transparency at any level. As technology continues to advance, are our local governments taking advantage of these opportunities? LMC-TV has been successfully experimenting with webcasting. For example, they made available streaming video of the March 2006 Village of Larchmont election debates. (See: LMC-TV Debut: Streaming Video of Candidates Debate.) More recently, they are making streaming videos of Town of Mamaroneck Council meetings. (See: View Town Board Meetings on the Web.) LMC-TV and the Town Council have now demonstrated that the idea is feasible. Shall we take up the new governor’s challenge and expand webcasting to all public meetings in the areas served by LMC-TV? While we’re at it, could the Mamaroneck Town Council and Larchmont Village Board consider how to put the minutes of various open meetings – especially their own public meetings – on the website? Current and archived minutes posted online could provide timely, convenient access to records of all the boards, including planning and zoning. Online records would be easily available and easily searchable by officeholders and the public. Also, perhaps the Mamaroneck School District, Mamaroneck Town Council and the Larchmont Village Board should take another look at how to create a combined and integrated online calendar. The School District and Larchmont Village use the same software for their web-calendars. Can we make the calendars talk to each other, and perhaps talk to Mamaroneck Town, the Larchmont Gazette and even LMC-TV? Can we also encourage other community organizations, such as the sports leagues, to share calendar information as well? Imagine a time when any resident can create a custom calendar that reflects the particular municipal, school and community events of interest. Imagine that the resident can click through a public meeting link and see the agenda, or the minutes, or even a streamed video of the meeting itself. Governor Spitzer has challenged the state agencies to make webcasting a reality by the end of this coming March. Should we set a deadline - I suggest the end of the year - for our own set of improvements to local communication and access to public information?
WORDS COUNT - Tales of A Vocab Tutor by Leigh Gage --“What does penchant mean?” And so it goes, teaching high school students the vocabulary that will help them on their SATs. As a verbal tutor, I quickly discover a student’s verbal range. The best students know almost all of the words, but there is always room for improvement which is why I have a difficult word list just for them. Unfortunately, the majority of American teenagers these days lack vocabulary. I have to wonder if my generation was so lacking at that age, or whether we Americans are progressively losing the richness of the English language. The writing section of the SAT includes the essay but is mainly about grammar and writing style. Most of my public school students have not studied grammar (how could English teachers not teach this?) and have great difficulty identifying the subject and verb in a sentence. Or telling me what prepositions are. Knowing the fine details of grammar is not essential to a good education, but recognizing the subject and verb of a sentence is. I read on the College Board website that only 1% of the new SAT takers are getting the highest score on the essay. I think it is because the essay scorers have higher standards than most public schools are setting for grammar and writing. There is nothing novel about saying that today’s high school students are not reading as much as earlier generations, or that time spent in front of the TV and the explosion of computer games are probably to blame. A poor vocabulary is only one consequence of less reading. During a first lesson, it quickly becomes apparent who has been an avid reader and who has not. Many students don’t know what reverence, or ambiguous, or cloistered mean, to give just three examples. Often they have a feeling for a word but cannot voice the definition. Expressions change from generation to generation and one that always stumps them is ESP which is what I tell them prescient means. Trying to improve a student’s vocabulary by 100 or 200 words in just a few lessons is a frustrating experience. But I have had students attack the flash cards with zeal, reducing the ‘don’t know’ pile of cards every week, until no cards are left. This bandaid approach of definition memorization is an onerous task. When I struggle to provide definitions, providing a context usually works. Pure definitions will not help with the "Vocab in Context" questions in reading comprehension. Many of these questions are more subtle and require a nuanced understanding of a word which a simple definition doesn’t provide. Some of my best students are second-generation Americans, who speak two or three languages. I tutored a girl who spoke five and her English language vocabulary was excellent. She could draw upon all of those languages to figure out the meaning of words. Latin is studied by few high school students today, which may be another explanation for their weakening vocabulary. Everyone doesn’t have the innate talent to excel verbally, but through reading they can improve their vocabulary and comprehension, just as I can improve my poor math skills through exercises. I realize that everyone doesn’t love reading William Saffire’s column in the Sunday New York Times magazine, as I do. I used to have a ‘Word a Day’ definition at the dinner table until my children became teenagers and that vocabulary enriching exercise had to be tossed out the window. I loved it but I had to let it go, for the sake of family meal harmony. This young generation worries me, but I have to believe that somehow, during their four years of college, their vocabulary will improve. I just read an article in the New York Times about the new book by Charles Frazier, author of best selling novel Cold Mountain. In this one article, the following words and phrases were found, and I would be willing to bet that the average high school student does not know what they mean: pointillistic prose, narrative brio, inscrutable behavior, peregrinations, surrogate, chivalric, depredations, elegiac voice, picaresque journey, palpable, plausible, and discernible. But maybe I didn’t either when I was that age, eons ago. Vocabulary enrichment is not a quick fix. It takes long hours of reading books and articles to increase one’s vocabulary. An SAT vocab book can help a student learn the most commonly used words in past SATs, but the student who truly understands the richness of the English language and how it is composed will succeed on the verbal section of the SAT. Reading can open doors. Leigh Gage lives in Larchmont and tutors local students.
LMC-TV At CROSSROADS: Viewers Called to Focus GroupsGroups Scheduled from Monday, Sept 25 - Thursday, Sept. 28 from Michael Charles, President of LMC-TV Board of Directors (September 20, 2006) The future of Larchmont’s own television station, LMC-TV, is being put into question by the general upheaval in telecommunication. Cable providers like Cablevision are now offering phone services while telephone companies like Verizon will soon offer cable television in our community. The competition for markets is fierce and neither Cablevision nor Verizon has yet commited to sign a contract supporting community television. The present agreement between Cablevision and the three municipalities (Village of Larchmont, Village of Mamaroneck and Town of Mamaroneck) expired in May 2006. While the terms of the old agreement are generally being honored by Cablevision, it has yet to sign a new agreement. In addition there is now a competitor – Verizon. What this competition will mean for the residents of Larchmont and Mamaroneck remains to be seen. Negotiations are continuing. However, it is vital for the future of LMC-TV that the cable companies be made aware of the extent of community support for their station. To this end the municipalities have commissioned a “community needs assessment.” This is essentially a survey of how well the community was served by the old franchise agreement and what the community would like in a new one. In the process LMC-TV – the local public access TV station serving Larchmont-Mamaroneck is also evaluated. One of the main parts of this “needs assessment” is the holding of public meetings where residents can voice their concerns and state their desires for the future. The need for a vibrant local cable television system is self-apparent, Being able to watch municipal board meetings, school board meetings, candidate debates in local elections and many other public information shows is part of LMC-TV’s mandate. In the future, having the ability to put public meetings over the internet, produce shows live from locations such as Harbor Island and the Larchmont Library are needs that can be addressed. The public meetings scheduled for September 25 through September 30 afford community residents a chance to both show their support for local programming and to voice their ideas for the future. Below is a list of the public meetings being held. They are targeted to particular community groups for their convenience, but anyone can go to any or as many meetings as are of interest. In particular, the board would like any young person who has worked with or is familiar with LMC-TV to come to the meeting for LMC-TV volunteers and producers on Thursday, September 28 at 7:30 pm at the Town of Mamaroneck Court House, 740 West Boston Post Road. There will be pizza and snacks. RSVP: If you want to come to any or all of the meetings please RSVP to: 777-7703 or email: cabletvfocus@vomny.org MEETING DATES AND LOCATIONS:Monday, September 25 Monday, September 25 Tuesday, September 26 Tuesday, September 26 Wednesday, September 27 Wednesday, September 27 Thursday, September 28 Thursday, September 28 Thursday, September 28
(May 10, 2006) The Mamaroneck Village Board approved a resolution to close Columbus Park as a meeting site for the mostly Hispanic day laborers who mow our lawns, wash our cars and rake our leaves. Trustees William Paonessa, Tony Vozza, and Joseph Angilletta voted for the measure. Mayor Philip Trifiletti and Trustee Thomas Murphy voted against it. Village Manager Leonard Verrastro and Police Chief Edward Flynn have helped enforce the resolution. (See: Village of Mamaroneck Closes Day Labor Site.) Now, six day laborers are suing the mayor and police chief for violating their civil rights. They allege that day laborers and the contractors who hire them have been ticketed and threatened with arrest. They say police cars have been following them, lights flashing, even when they are not in Columbus Park. (See: Local Day Labor Issue Lands in Federal Court.) One hundred years ago, the men below arrived in America. "Sure," you say, "but they were legal!" Laws were far looser then, and to be "legal" you could be anything except an anarchist or diseased. But they were the day laborers of 1906.
WHAT IF WE "JUST SAID NO" TO THE SAT?by Bob Sweeney (April 20, 2006) A high school counselor and friend in San Francisco likens standardized tests to an elephant in a movie theater: "They sit wherever they want, and they distort not only how we spend our time but much of what matters." For high school students, the elephant in the front row is the SATs. The latest notoriety has not been good news. It was discovered that scores for 4,400 students from the October test were actually higher than previously reported to colleges. The scoring error was made public this past month after two students questioned their scores in December. College Board officials said errors were due to "excessive moisture" on answer sheets used on a rainy day. While affected students and colleges struggle with fallout from the scoring blunder, students everywhere continue to struggle with the SAT. More than ever, high school juniors are consumed with the test. Most are involved in some type of test prep for the May administration. Too many hours a week are spent in a prep class or with a private tutor, taking valuable time away from what should really matter. Whether they can afford it or not, parents are spending thousands just to raise scores 50 to 100 points. The obsession with this American institution is at a peak, fueled by the dream to get into the "right" college. Meanwhile, school counselors are seeing an epidemic of anxiety among our students, who have come to believe a pending SAT score defines them and will determine their fate in life. The enjoyment of learning has taken a back seat to prepping, gaming, strategizing and worrying. I am heartened to hear that some colleges are downplaying standardized test scores, or better yet, making them optional. Last fall, Robert Weisbuch, the new president of Drew University, took a courageous step, adding Drew to a growing list of SAT-optional colleges. Thinking about his own children, Weisbuch told an audience of counselors, he had come to the conclusion that SAT scores were as relevant and valuable as their shoe size. Bates College in Maine has made the SAT optional for more than 20 years. A 10-year study showed no difference in the grade-point average or any other outcomes between students who submitted SAT scores and those who did not. Bates, Bowdoin, Dickinson and more than 700 other colleges (listed on www.fairtest.org seem to be doing fine without them. However, SAT scores are still held in high esteem by many. Admissions officers like to boast that their entering class is the "best ever," citing the average SAT score as evidence. I suggest they wait to meet their new students in person before they bestow that title. Many colleges reward high SAT scorers with merit money. In the October scoring mishap, a student from Yorktown High School was informed that her score was actually 300 points higher than originally reported. One college immediately offered her a $12,500 scholarship - the testing version of "Bowling for Dollars." Fill in the right ovals and earn big bucks. I understand the need for a number to help admissions officers with the difficult sorting process. However, overwhelming evidence suggests that SAT scores are a better predictor of a student's family income and support than future academic success. Yet, there is still a love affair with test scores and pressure on admission directors to increase the SAT average every year. I suspect the US News & World Report rankings, which rely heavily on that number, have much to do with that. A fantasy: On the first Saturday in May, students nationwide just say "No" to the SATs and sleep late instead. If my dream were to come true, I have confidence admissions professionals could still bring in a qualified class; perhaps one even more creative, intelligent, hard-working and ethnically diverse than the last - a class, perhaps, boasting some great students who just don't do well in a high-stakes test for four hours on a Saturday morning. The recent SAT scoring disaster may be a blessing in disguise because of the focus it has brought to the role of SATs in the admissions process. Even in a perfect scoring world, many are coming to believe, SATs are not worth the inordinate amount of time, energy and money invested in them. And in the imperfect world in which we live, SATs are intrinsically unfair to students without the resources to play the testing game. For all these reasons, the current preoccupation with "the boards" gets in the way of real learning. It is time to ignore the elephant in the front row and enjoy the movie. Bob Sweeney is a guidance counselor at Mamaroneck High School. This commentary was originally published on April 1, 2006 in the Journal News. See also: MHS Counselor Working to Reform SATs
OPEN LETTER TO THE MAMARONECK-LARCHMONT COMMUNITYDismay at Village of Mamaroneck Rejection of Temp Day Labor Siteby Mariana Boneo-Lvoff & John S. Gitlitz Editor's Note: Since the Village of Mamaroneck voted to close their day labor site in Columbus Park in January, officials, clergy and advocates for the day laborers from Mamaroneck and Larchmont have sought, unsuccessfully, to find a solution that works for all parties. (March 28, 2006) The Hispanic Resource Center regrets the decision taken by the Village of Mamaroneck Board on March 27 to reject the front of the Water Treatment Plant as a temporary day laborer site. Though the location presented problems, adequate protections could have been devised for it to work until a permanent location is found. Once again an opportunity was brushed aside without a viable alternative. We wish village leadership were more willing to build bridges than burn them. Over the last year the HRC met monthly with the mayor, village officials, members of the Tri-Municipal Summit, and private stakeholders to search for a solution that would address everyone’s concerns. We listened and tried to devise constructive proposals. We raised a number of alternatives. None was deemed acceptable. We also hired a site coordinator who was present in Columbus Park daily to help the site function safely. After Columbus Park was closed we welcomed the involvement of neighboring municipalities and the clergy. It was the clergy, not the Hispanic Resource Center, who recommended the Water Treatment Plant site [on the Boston Post Road near the entrance to Harbor Island Park] to Westchester County. Last Monday it, like every previous suggestion, was rejected.
The potential problems presented by the Water Treatment Plant were greatly exaggerated. With cooperation and good will they could have been addressed.
Saxon Woods [which was recommended by the mayor] is not a realistic alternative. Perhaps its attraction is that it moves the workers out of town and out of sight, but day laborer data from across the nation demonstrate that to be effective a site must be visible, contained and easily accessible. Saxon Woods is not. Most of the workers are residents of the Village of Mamaroneck. They pay rent, shop, and send their children to school here. To lump them together as outsiders and alien “illegals” is unfair and wrong. The village has an obligation to allow everyone to use its public spaces without discrimination. Courts around the country have held that gathering peacefully to seek work is a constitutionally protected first amendment right, regardless of immigration status. How much tax-payer money has the village spent on maintaining a heavy police presence where the workers have gathered? . In other Westchester municipalities the private sector, churches and local governments have worked together to create community centers which serve immigrant workers effectively. They have met the workers’ needs for a place to seek employment and obtain needed services, addressed quality of life concerns and greatly reduced social tensions. The establishment of such a center here in Mamaroneck has long been our dream at the HRC, but it requires the active participation of everyone. No one can do it alone. . Instead of just saying no, lets find a way to welcome the newcomers in our community.. We heard in the voices of many who spoke at the board meeting, even those opposed to the Water Treatment Plant, a frustration at the lack of a constructive solution. The Hispanic Resource Center will always keep its doors open for dialogue. Together we can build a community that is safe and welcoming for everyone. Mariana Boneo-Lvoff & John S. Gitlitz are co-presidents of the Hispanic Resource Center
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But after a day or two I began to realize that we couldn’t use the fan because it might disturb or even injure our guests. And so for much of the summer we had more long-lasting cooking odors in the house than acceptable. 
I went into the garage and found a retired broom stick and a narrow weeding tool and joined the two together with hose clamps. I took this 8-foot “equalizer,” climbed the porch stairs and, under the eyes of the female finch, who was watching from a gutter above, I pulled the nest down.
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