All Entries in the "The Examiner" Category
Harckham Makes Re-election Bid Official in Mt. Kisco
Three-term County Legislator Peter Harckham (D-Katonah) announced this week he is running for re-election in District 2 this fall. Harckham, 53, the Board of Legislators’ Democratic majority leader for the past three-and-a-half years, addressed family, friends and supporters on Tuesday in Mount Kisco by reaffirming his priorities to continue to help families and the environment [...]
P’ville Angered By State, County Inaction on Saw Mill Flooding
Mounting frustration caused by four recent closures of the Saw Mill River Parkway following heavy rainfall and the lack of action by the county and state has angered officials in the most heavily impacted municipality. The Village of Pleasantville renewed its plea last week to the state Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the Saw [...]
Ex-No. Castle Water Super to Force Democratic Primary for Supervisor
Retired North Castle Sewer and Water Superintendent Anthony Futia announced last week he plans to challenge Democratic Councilman Michael Schiliro for the party’s nomination for supervisor. Futia, 77, a lifelong North White Plains resident, said he has decided to force a primary in September because of deep dissatisfaction with how the town Democratic Committee chose [...]
Chappaqua Library Takes Bed Bug Precaution With Weekend Event
The thought of encountering a bed bug anywhere is enough to make one’s skin crawl but few would expect to encounter the parasitic insect at a local library book fair. On June 10, two bed bugs were discovered on the grounds of the Chappaqua Public Library, one day after the Friends of the Chappaqua Library [...]
Crowds Come Out to Celebrate DeCicco’s Armonk Opening
For 16 months Armonk residents had to endure the inconvenience of living without a supermarket in their hamlet. That wait ended on Friday with the opening of DeCicco Family Markets, a new specialty supermarket at the partially completed Armonk Square shopping center. Customers and curiosity seekers streamed into and out of the spanking new [...]
Post Office Loses Mount Kisco Tax Bills; Duplicates Sent Out
Mount Kisco property owners’ tax bills may have been lost in the mail but that won’t excuse anyone from paying their taxes on time. The deadline will remain July 1 even though the post office distribution center in White Plains lost the original bills in May. Village Manager James Palmer said earlier this week that [...]
Mt. Pleasant Town Board Praises Revamped Medical Village Plan
The Mount Pleasant Town Board last week praised a revised Medical Science Village proposed for Valhalla that eliminates the residential component and scales back the intensity of retail for the 80-acre site. Developer John Fareri unveiled his latest plan before the board on June 4, dropping his original request to build 150 rental units for [...]
Ex-No. Castle GOP Chair Bellantoni Accused of Hypocrisy for Katz Fundraiser
A former North Castle Republican Committee chairwoman has once again sparked controversy after agreeing to host a fundraiser this Thursday at her home for embattled Assemblyman Steve Katz (R-Yorktown). Rosemarie Bellantoni, a politically active Republican who served as town committee chair in 2010-11, will be hosting the invitation-only event at her Armonk home. In March, [...]
Police Seize Cache of Fireworks, Evacuate Mt. Pleasant Street
Westchester County police arrested a 53-year-old Valhalla man early Tuesday morning after it was discovered that a large cache of commercial-grade fireworks was being stored in his house’s basement forcing evacuation of the street. Authorities arrested Stephen Surace of 4 Saldi Lane at 12:22 a.m. following a joint county police and federal investigation. He was [...]
Whippoorwill Club, DEP Agree to Conservation Easement on 104 Acres
The New York City Department of Environmental Conservation announced Monday that it has reached an agreement with the Whippoorwill Club to place a conservation easement on 104 acres that will help protect the Kensico Reservoir watershed. The permanent easement, which will go into effect early next year after minor details connected with the estimated $10.4 million [...]
New Castle Planners, ARB Want Smaller Affordable Housing Building
Members of two New Castle boards told representatives for the developer of the proposed Chappaqua affordable housing project last week that they preferred a design for a shorter building rather than a recently revised plan. At a joint June 4 meeting involving the planning and architectural review boards, officials continued to voice concern to Conifer [...]
School Safety Issues Debated at Ball Forum in Mt. Pleasant
Nearly six months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, a panel of educators, students and community members discussed and sometimes debated strategies Saturday afternoon to make schools safer. The roughly 70-minute discussion held at the Westlake Middle School/High School library was organized by state Sen. Greg Ball (R-Paterson) and featured comments from experts as [...]
Newtown’s Sandy Hook Firefighters Honored at P’ville Fire Dept. Parade
A volunteer fire service that has probably seen more tragedy during the past six months than any other was honored as guests during the Pleasantville Fire Department parade last Friday evening. A contingent of about a dozen members from the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, the department that serves the Village of Sandy [...]
Mount Kisco Native Stars in New Tyler Perry TV Series
You may be familiar with John Schneider from his many years portraying Bo Duke on the popular television series “The Dukes of Hazard” or from his 100 appearances on “Smallville.” Or maybe you know him as a country music singer who has nine studio albums to his credit or about his efforts on behalf of [...]
Schiliro to Challenge Arden for No. Castle Supervisor
North Castle Councilman Michael Schiliro will oppose town Supervisor Howard Arden in the fall after the Democratic Committee announced last week its slate for the November elections. Joining Schiliro, 49, now in his sixth year on the town board, are town council candidates Barry Reiter and Jose Berra, who are both independents. Schiliro has also [...]
Revised Senior Housing Proposal Draws Praise From Mt. Kisco Planners
A revised plan for a 129-unit senior housing proposal that causes far less disturbance on an environmentally sensitive hillside received compliments last week from the Mount Kisco Planning Board. The project, The Hearth at Mount Kisco, is proposed for a 17.7-acre site on Kisco Avenue opposite Holiday Inn Drive. The three-story building would be 177,000 [...]
New Castle Residents Seek Answers to Coyote Threat
By Megan Wong Apprehension, uncertainty and anger ran high among concerned New Castle residents at Wednesday night’s forum to discuss the escalating threat of coyotes in the area. A standing-room-only crowd gathered at the New Castle Community Center in Chappaqua on May 29 hoping to hear how they can put the recent rash of coyote attacks on pets [...]
Charges of Racism Surface in Henry Shooting
Representatives from an African-American law enforcement group and an attorney charged Thursday that the shooting of Pace University student Danroy Henry was racially motivated and that law enforcement authorities are covering up police brutality. Bonita Zelman, the lawyer for seven Pace students who were at the Thornwood Shopping Center in the early morning hours of [...]
New Castle GOP Endorses Non-Republicans for November Election
The New Castle Republican Committee announced Thursday morning a “non partisan” slate to challenge the Democrats in November. Robert Greenstein, who made an unsuccessful independent run for town board in 2011 and has been an outspoken critic of the Chappaqua Crossing retail development plan, will be running for supervisor with town council running mates Lisa Katz and Adam [...]
‘No More’ Waiting: Hawthorne Man Publishes First Novel
For years, Michael Malone had this unfinished novel sitting in a desk drawer. It bothered him that it remained there for years incomplete. The Hawthorne resident, who may be best known locally for his “Notes From the Tasting Room” column on the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company website and his Train Jotting blog, was insistent that [...]
Armonk Nursery Proposal Criticized, Referred to Planning Board
The North Castle Town Board referred the controversial Mariani Gardens application to the planning board last week before it considers amended zoning that would allow the nursery to serve wine and beer and host parties. In another 3-2 vote, the board approved sending the matter to the town’s planners so they may generate a report [...]
Pleasantville Honors Fallen Serviceman 13 Years After Death
A military fatality cloaked in mystery was brought to light—and honored during Pleasantville’s Memorial Day ceremony. While only a select few knew of a Pleasantville High School graduate’s bravery before Monday, now most of a village understands the sacrifice made, even if details surrounding his death are scarce. Jonathan Flores, a Navy man and a [...]
Security Concerns Raised About Pace Consolidation at Hearing
Concerns about security and student conduct at Pace’s Pleasantville campus surfaced during the resumption of a public hearing last week on the university’s proposed consolidation plan. At the May 20 session, Mount Pleasant Planning Board members urged Pace representatives to beef up security after one resident and several board members described problems with student behavior [...]
Lead Agency Declaration Delayed for New Castle Legionaries Land
The New Castle Town Board delayed declaring itself lead agency last week for a proposed development on the 97-acre Legionaries of Christ property until it has a chance to review the matter with the town attorney. David Steinmetz, an attorney representing Soder Real Estate Equities of Montclair, N.J., which is hoping to build 50 luxury [...]
No. Castle GOP Names Arden, DiGiacinto to Ticket Despite Differences
The North Castle Republican Committee announced on Thursday that it has endorsed Supervisor Howard Arden for re-election and longtime town resident Barbara DiGiacinto to run for one of two open council seats this fall. Committee Chairwoman Anita Cozza said Friday that Arden and DiGiacinto were the only two candidates to formally interview before the committee [...]
More Arcade Games Sought for Grand Prix New York
The Mount Kisco Planning Board is considering a proposal from Grand Prix New York to add 50 arcade games inside the premises. Diamond Properties CEO James Diamond asked the board last week to allow him to increase the number of games from 25 to 75. As a condition of approval more than two years ago [...]
Area School Budgets Pass Easily; Mester, Messner Win in Chappaqua
Voters easily passed four local school district budgets Tuesday night and Chappaqua Board of Education Trustee Jeffrey Mester won re-election in a three-candidate race for two seats. Budgets in Chappaqua, Pleasantville, Mount Pleasant and Bryam Hills were approved by overwhelming margins, ranging from just over 2-1 in Mount Pleasant to a 4-1 edge in Chappaqua. [...]
New Castle Town Administrator to Run for Supervisor
The New Castle Democratic Committee nominated Town Administrator Penny Paderewski Monday night to run for supervisor, replacing Susan Carpenter who is bowing out after one term. The committee announced Tuesday morning that it had also nominated incumbent Councilman John Buckley and former councilman Michael Wolfensohn for the two town board seats. Buckley is running for [...]
Mt. Pleasant Republicans Shake Up Town Board Slate
A shakeup to the all-Republican Mount Pleasant Town Board appears likely, even if the Democrats fail to run a slate of candidates this year. The Mount Pleasant Republican Committee last week opted against nominating longtime Councilman Thomas Sialiano for re-election, instead endorsing planning board member Denis McCarthy of Hawthorne and Valhalla resident Laurie Rogers-Smalley. Another [...]
Three of a Kind: P’ville HS Opens District’s Newest Edible Garden
Over the years, Pleasantville’s schools have demonstrated that it’s possible to entice students to eat healthfully and enjoy the food at the same time. Last week that job became easier. The school district cut the ribbon on an edible garden at the Pleasantville High School athletic field on May 17. It is the third garden [...]
