January 12, 2012 - WestchesterGuardian.com

PRESORTED
STANDARD
PERMIT #3036
WHITE PLAINS NY
Vol. VI No. II Thursday, January 12, 2012 $1.00
Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly
A Gift from Pope Benedict XVI
By Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Page 17
Coming to a
Computer Near You
Page 4
One Road, Two Windfalls
Page 12
Fighting Peekskill’s City Hall
Page 13
Tekturna Drug Combination
Found Harmful
Page 14
This is Democracy at Work
Page 24
Fifty Years On
Page 26
westchesterguardian.com

Page 2 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 3
Of Significance
Community Section................................................................................4
Cyber Security......................................................................................4
Affordable Housing.............................................................................6
Books......................................................................................................6
Budgets..................................................................................................8
Calendar................................................................................................9
Najah’s Corner......................................................................................9
Charity.................................................................................................10
Cultural Perspective..........................................................................10
Economic Development...................................................................11
History.................................................................................................13
Medicine..............................................................................................14
Spoof.....................................................................................................14
Movie Review.....................................................................................15
Sports...................................................................................................16
Eye On Theatre...................................................................................16
Religion................................................................................................17
Government Section.............................................................................17
Message from the Mayor..................................................................17
Albany Correspondent.....................................................................18
Mayor Marvin’s Column..................................................................19
Current Commentary.......................................................................20
Government........................................................................................21
OpEd Section..........................................................................................20
Weir only Human..............................................................................24
Letters to the Editor...........................................................................25
New York Civic..................................................................................26
Legal Notices...........................................................................................25
Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly
Guardian News Corp.
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and Aris
Westchester On the Level with Co-hosts Richard Narog and Hezi Aris is heard from
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For those who cannot join us live, consider listening to the show by way of an MP3 download, or an on
demand after 12:15 p.m., after every show at the link provided above,
The highlight of the week of January 9-13, 2012, is expected to be spending Thursday, January 12 th with
New York State Assemblyman George Latimer. We will start the day at the Rye Metro North Station at the
crack of dawn and continue to long after the sun will have set. Best of all, we will speak to Assemblyman
Latimer during our normal broadcasting day to get his take on issues of concern to the district he represents.
Co-host Richard Narog will be on foreign assignment.
The entire archive is available and maintained for your perusal. The easiest way to find a particular interview
is to search Google or any other search engine for the subject matter or the name of the interviewee
Mission Statement
The Westchester Guardian is a weekly newspaper devoted to the unbiased reporting of
events and developments that are newsworthy and significant to readers living in, and/
or employed in, Westchester County. The Guardian will strive to report fairly, and objectively,
reliable information without favor or compromise. Our
first duty will be to the PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO KNOW, by the
exposure of truth, without fear or hesitation, no matter where
the pursuit may lead, in the finest tradition of FREEDOM OF
THE PRESS.
The Guardian will cover news and events relevant to residents
and businesses all over Westchester County. As a
weekly, rather than focusing on the immediacy of delivery
more associated with daily journals, we will instead seek to
provide the broader, more comprehensive, chronological
step-by-step accounting of events, enlightened with analysis,
where appropriate.
From amongst journalism’s classic key-words: who, what,
when, where, why, and how, the why and how will drive
our pursuit. We will use our more abundant time, and our
resources, to get past the initial ‘spin’ and ‘damage control’
often characteristic of immediate news releases, to reach the
very heart of the matter: the truth. We will take our readers
to a point of understanding and insight which cannot be
obtained elsewhere.
To succeed, we must recognize from the outset that bigger is
not necessarily better. And, furthermore, we will acknowledge
that we cannot be all things to all readers. We must carefully
balance the presentation of relevant, hard-hitting, Westchester
news and commentary, with features and columns useful in
daily living and employment in, and around, the county. We
must stay trim and flexible if we are to succeed.

Page 4 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
CommunitySection
CYBER SECURITY
Coming to a Computer Near You in 2012
By ALAN HEYMAN
MATTERS
Cyber crooks will target small
businesses, social media attacks
will be more common, and
mobile security threats will reach
an all-time high in 2012.
This is from the Cyber Security and
Information Assurance Division of Kroll, Inc,
one of the largest security companies in the
industry of Cyber security. Their annual security
forecast highlights major areas to be vigilant
about.
The Kroll annual report states that no one
is exempt from attack. Companies need to take
a strategic and an aggressive approach to Cyber
Security. That is all size companies.
As a result the Security industry is growing
very fast. Up until now, this was an industry of
only big companies, IBM, Boeing, Raytheon,
Locked, Northrup, Grumman, etc., since this is
at the heart of the Defense Industry it will be
at the center for major spending in the future.
There goes the US Defense budget. The end
result to the everyday citizen will be better security
products and services, but the down side will
be maniacal disruptions to the internet passed by
overzealous legislatures and the militarization of
cyber space.
What to watch out for:
Small Businesses are becoming the newest
preferred target, especially ones that house large
amounts of valuable data but lack the data
security budgets of larger companies. The small
businesses are weakened by postponed or overlooked
upgrades and replacements; this becomes
the path of least resistance for Cyber crooks.
Social media among businesses is skyrocketing,
and its popularity will serve as a conduit for
social engineering attacks. Crooks will develop
new tactics to coerce end-users into disclosing
sensitive data, downloading malware (short for
malicious software) or both. Companies need
to combat the risks with advanced technologies,
data leakage prevention, enhanced network
monitoring and log file analysis.
Mobile technologies are changing and
expanding at a record pace, many companies
can’t keep up with the pace to secure these
devices. As a result security threats will out strip
the prevention capabilities of many organizations.
Thieves are already waiting with new scams
to attack employee’s applications. “Ransomware”
can take mobile devices hostage. Ransomware is
hacker software that infects a device and holds
it hostage until a ransom payment is delivered.
Lost and stolen devices will reach new higher
levels of occurrence. Digital cameras used by
medical facilities to document patient treatments
are becoming attractive to thieves, with
this loss of data potential HIPAA privacy law
volitions will rise.
Cloud Computing is also reaching new
highs as many companies embrace this type of
technology as are hackers. Cloud Computing
is the ability to use computer services outside of
your business and pay for the usage not the hardware
or software required, capitalizing on the
cost savings and the ease of use. Current surveys
and reports indicate that many companies are
also underestimating the security due diligence
when it comes to investigating these suppliers.
The projected increase of breaches in this area
will highlight the need for more attention.
Targeted Cyber Attacks will rise dramatically.
The growing trend over the past years has
been for more, and better planned and executed
breaches utilizing customized malware. Hackers
will continue their persistence of network
footholds by attacking all other devices on a
company’s network from printers to routers
since they don’t require the same level of
investment by the hacker as attacking a
supply chain with customized software.
This will result in increasing occurrences of
targeting senior executives or owners at all
companies. A profile or comment on a social
media platform even by a CEO or owner’s
son or daughter, can help hackers build an
information portfolio that could be used for
future cyber attacks.
Public–private relationships in security
will increase as there becomes a global
collaborative to develop takedowns of hacker
networks. Cybercrime has the capacity to
cripple almost every aspect of commerce
from the largest corporation to the individual
consumer. Similarly the security of the US
infrastructure is being called into question in
disturbing real ways. While banks, investment
firms and other companies continue on the
path to globalization, they become increasing
inter-connected. A cyber security breach at
one firm can create effects that greatly impact
systemic risk in global markets. This collaboration
will increase the private sector’s capacity
to respond to large threats more effectively.
Increased Regulatory Scrutiny will
require more detailed breach guidelines for
companies to report incidents that result
or could result in Cyber attacks or a risk of
compromising data. Companies overlook
key vulnerabilities as regulatory compliance
continues to drive organizational security.
State and federal regulations will be the yardstick
by which comprehensiveness of data
privacy and security are measured. We should
expect to see governing agencies offer specific
guidance on risk assessments and standard
IT security controls. There is also a growing
segment of Cyber professionals who cynically
see the regulatory approach as recently
expounded by the new head of the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) Enforcement
Group, that “enforcement promotes compliance”
as a means for the federal and state
agencies to increase their income stream and
their respective power base.
Breach notification laws will gain greater
traction outside the US as the US Congress
is struggling to reach a consensus on a federal
breach notification law. While 44 states in the
US have such laws in place, the idea internationally
is gaining momentum. The US
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
has recently introduced guidelines for public
companies that require companies to report
breach incidents.
Geolocation technology is the quintessential
double edge sword. Consumers love
the convenience of innovative mobile apps
and services utilizing technology. On the
other hand, the backlash against surreptitious
tracking or disclosure can be swift and
strong. Bills have been introduced in the US
Congress for the protection of Geolocation
information with privacy advocates urging
businesses to adopt an opt-in or consumer
consent model.
This is a very fast moving and evolving
industry, be on the lookout for more to come.
Mr. Alan Heyman, xs2ltd@gmail.com ;
Managing Director of Cyber Security Auditors &
Administrators LLC (CSA2) and the principal
of Xanadu Security Services, LTD, (XS2) located
at 436 Pleasantville Rd, Briarcliff, NY 10510.
His resume is comprised of 25 years in the data
communication world, having started one of the
first internet based Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI) companies in the late 80’s. CSA2 is focused
on cyber security issues on a national scale, and the
auditing compliance requirements in the healthcare
industry. Mr. Heyman’s expertize is a holistic/best
practices approach to privacy needs, encompassing
legal compliance, IT Engineering, Software, Social
Engineering with a special emphasis on computerizing
audit compliance issues. He is fully certified by
the IBM Internet Security Solution’s Group in all
phases of IT and cyber security.

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 5

Page 6 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
Affordable Housing
Media Has Become Affordable Housing’s New Battleground
By ABBY LUBY
WHITE PLAINS, NY -
Westchester Country Executive
Rob Astorino was last week
slammed on the Sunday
opinion page of the New York
Times. Astorino, a Republican, was blamed
for “stonewalling federal authorities over a
longstanding housing desegregation case” in
Westchester. The harsh criticism was, in part,
blowback from Astorino’s recent opinion in
The New York Daily News entitled “HUD’s
Warped War on Westchester” where he blamed
the federal department of Housing and Urban
Development for consistently locking horns
with the county.
Astorino’s op-ed was not the first time he
brought his claim of harassment to the media.
The county executive has frequently appeared
on both Sean Hannity’s FOX News and Capital
Tonight reiterating his message of the feds’
unfair play.
The crux of the dispute began with
Westchester’s historic settlement of the Anti-
Discrimination Center (ADC) 2009 lawsuit
that stipulated the county build 750 units of
affordable housing in predominantly white
neighborhoods. The county has seven years to
build the units in 31 eligible communities.
But there have beencrucial roadblocks that
have intensified the friction between Astorino
and HUD. Part of the settlement agreement
was to report any impediments to building the
units, particularly income discrimination and
BOOKS
In 1949, at the Delphi Falls cemetery, six unlikely
heroes - eight to ten year olds, (five boys and a
girl) racked their brains for a name to call their
new “club of valor” to celebrate the first heroic
odyssey they’d just completed, against all odds.
“We need a special name,” Randy suggested.
Dale Barber thought it up - The Pompey
Hollow Book Club. It’s a club name no mom in
the county would stop us from leaving the house
for, even on a school night. Dale was eloquent.
No objection; everyone spit and shook hands
making the name law.
Being as Mary could hit a mighty home
run; the boys made her - to the best of their
understanding, at the time - America’s very first
girl president.
It all made sense. As small children they
witnessed a world at war on the Saturday picture
show’s newsreels. They listened to the War
in darkened living rooms on static-whistling
radio broadcasts from London, North Africa
certain municipal zoning laws. James Johnson,
the federal monitor overseeing the county’s
compliance to the settlement, urged the county
to move forward and to sue local governments
if their zoning laws stood in the way of building
affordable housing. Astorino balked at the
idea. His spokesperson and senior advisor Ned
McCormack targeted HUD for neglecting
to understand the problems inherent with
marching municipalities to court.
“Communities are built through cooperation
– not litigation,” said McCormack. “HUD
would also like the county to dismantle local
zoning by suing municipalities over what it
perceives as exclusionary zoning. The problem
is that HUD sees all zoning as exclusionary,
including environmental protections to protect
drinking water.”
McCormack was quick to point out that
the New York Times had no basis for accusing
Astorino of “defending an ultra white status
quo,” adding that “Westchester is the fourth
most diverse county in New York in terms of
Hispanic and African American populations,
attested to in the 2010 U.S. Census. It is virtually
tied with Manhattan, ahead of Staten Island and
only trails Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx. If
Westchester were a state, it would rank seventh
in Hispanic population and 14 th in African-
American population.”
Promoting Westchester’s diversity is seen as
an unrelated promotional tactic by Westchester
Country Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers).
The Pompey Hollow Book Club
Celebrating the Heroism of Every American Family During Word War II
or the Pacific, with only their imaginations as
the picture. They were ear witnesses to bravery,
selflessness and sacrifices every single day for half
their young lives. The first half, during a war that
took 70 million lives throughout the world.
Children of the 1940s learned right from
wrong the easy way - and they learned by
example that all things were possible when they
all came together. It was the very ingenuity and
spirit they witnessed in the 1940s and mimicked
that made the imagination of the Pompey
Hollow Book Club possible. The D Day invasion
of 1945 was monument to the reverence the
kids of the early forties, had for, those they called
- their heroes - who fought and died for world
freedom. D Day became their benchmark for
the protection of freedom’s minimum standard.
Living in a city (Cortland) for the duration,
Jerry watched the impact of the War in every
family window with a star or heart child drafted,
killed or missing from that home. He couldn’t
“The contention that the county is diverse has
nothing do to with the legal stipulation and
agreement, which was to create and maintain
fair and affordable housing.”
Jenkins advocates working with HUD
instead of blaming them for imposing certain
mandates on communities. “This systematic
bashing of people who need to work with the
federal government is disingenuous and will cost
Westchester residents in the long run.”
McCormack especially brings the New
York Times to task for misattributing a quote to
Johnson from a letter that was actually authored
by the regional HUD counsel, Glenda Fussa.
The quote, which McCormack said was taken
out of context referred to the country’s inability
to build any affordable housing to date. Fussa
actually begins by acknowledging the county’s
successes and how HUD was “pleased to see
that the county has made significant progress
in meeting the benchmarks set forth and that
there has been the first closing of a home development
under the terms of the settlement.” The
county has reported that the first closing was in
November, 2011, and was a three family house in
the Village of Pelham.
McCormack backs that up. “The county is
about a year ahead of schedule when it comes to
meeting the housing settlement’s fundamental
benchmark. The county has 206 units approved
by the federal housing monitor; 182 have all
financing in place; 108 units have building
permits in place. Under the settlement, the
read but he could
count the lists of
the names, of the
dead, taped to
shop windows
each day. When
Mary’s father
returned from
France and Italy,
in uniform, after
the War, she ran and hid under her grandmother’s
bed, shaking in fear, not remembering his face
- he had been gone so long. Randy and Bobby
Mawson went through the War in shrouds of
darkness, and were asked to take on certain adult
responsibilities around the house, in their dad’s
absences - while not being able to hear about the
secrets their dads were working on at the Carrier
plant in Syracuse - for submarines, bombers and
tanks. Dale had to work the farm a little harder,
county needed only to have financing in place
for 100 units and building permits for 50 units
by the end of 2011.”
Most of HUD”s five page letter was a
lengthy tally of the country’s shortcomings as
far as the settlement goes. McCormack said
HUD is not satisfied to “simply see affordable
housing built, HUD wants to socially engineer a
straightforward contract into a utopian integration
order. But toward what end?”
Astorino stands by his claim that HUD has
been unreasonable, especially after they rejected
the county’s fifth housing report on “impediments,”
and subsequently retracted about $4
million in Community Development Block
Grants (CDBG). In his Daily News opinion
piece Astorino said HUD was unrealistic in
their request for half of the 750 units to have
three bedrooms, a requirement that would
double the county’s cost, adding that HUD was
taking advantage of the settlement to “dismantle
local zoning” and was “oblivious to common
sense.” The county executive has repeatedly said
his office was powerless in working with the
municipalities.
“That’s the dichotomy,” said Jenkins. “What
we need to do is develop a timetable of action
with the municipalities. The stipulation is not
about creating 750 units of affordable housing,
it’s about creating a framework for fair and
affordable housing forever in the county.”
Abby Luby is a Westchester based, freelance journalist
who writes local news, about environmental
issues, art, entertainment and food. Her debut novel,
“Nuclear Romance” was recently published. Visit the
book’s website, http://nuclearromance.wordpress.
com/.
as a child, with the adults drafted. Bob Holbrook,
the oldest boy of four at the time, had to step up
to the plate at four - after his father was drafted
to serve in Europe. He had to help his mother
any way he could.
Kids from the early forties didn’t take kindly
to invasion and they had an even shorter tolerance
for bullies of any kind. If you want to see
an American child of that era become a Pompey
Hollow Book Club flag bearer, just let anyone
threaten their family, friends, or someone weaker
and helpless. You will see D-day all over again.
The Pompey Hollow Book Club by Jerome
Mark Antil - aka J. A. Hoomus - is only the
beginning of this author’s adventures. The novel
was released Dec. 17 on amazon.com; Kindle;
Nook and will be in bookstores in 2012.
Jerome Mark Antil was born in Cortland,
in 1941. The seventh child of a seventh son of
a seventh son, Michael Charles Antil Sr., and
Mary Rowe Holman Antil. He completed the
first grade at the St. Mary’s Catholic school in
Cortland, when the family moved to Delphi
Continued on page 7

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 7
BOOKS
The Pompey Hollow Book Club
Continued from page 6
Falls, where he lived until just after
finishing his eleventh grade in high
school. Just before his senior year in
high school the family moved from
Delphi Falls, first to North Syracuse
and then to Milwaukee as a result of
a year his father had spent in a TB
sanitarium, and subsequent failed
businesses. He moved with his Mom
and Dad and two of his brothers to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Antil graduated from St. John’s Cathedral in
1958 and went on to attend Xavier University
in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents and younger
brother James Joseph moved to Fort Wayne,
Indiana where they remained.
His career has been “writing” and
“marketing” in the business world. He wrote
marketing plans, sales and training movies and
commercials. He has lectured at
Cornell University; The Johnson
School; St. Edwards University;
and Southern Methodist University.
Antil was inspired to begin the
career he always wanted, at the
behest of his daughter, Worley Antil
Coco and has spent twelve years
researching for several books he is
now working on. A note from her
now adorns his wall, “Start Writing
- Be Happy!”
To Antil, his career is only beginning; he
has so many memories and experiences to draw
from. As he puts it, “If my daughter is my only
audience, that would be fine with me.” He also
mentions that a number of writers got a late start.
His favorite authors are John Steinbeck; Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle; and Mark Twain.
The Retired (Try To) Strike Back—
Chapter 34 – The Commercial
By ALLAN LUKS
While Myron participates
downtown at the community
debate for the city council
race, his close friends meet at his apartment to
discuss creating a commercial to promote his
candidacy.
“You know that Myron wants his candidacy
to show his achievements but also that he’s
running as a symbol of how much today’s seniors
can accomplish as leaders,” says Mimi, his wife.
“I don’t know how easy it is to capture his experience
and need to produce change quickly and
also have a symbolic message in a thirty-second
TV commercial. But ideas?”
The six friends and Mimi stay quiet, some
nibbling on appetizers, as if their silence recognizes
that this is their first effort to run a political
campaign and they need more time to think.
“I know Myron wants to show he represents
a potential national movement of seniors
becoming public leaders,” says Bob. “But the
commercial has to sell him. He was an actuary at
a giant insurance company, supervised hundreds
of people, and knows how to track numbers to
show how people are doing. His opponent, this
young city attorney, she doesn’t have that background
and there are other things about her
that I can talk about later. I had a lot of years
in advertising, I know commercials, and I told
you I’ll direct this one—but I still say forget the
symbol part. We’re looking for the best way to
sell Myron.”
Mimi sits tall and straight, her friends are in
relaxed positions—
“Idea,” says Kenny. “Reporters have gotten
to all of us for background on Myron because
we’re his friends. I mentioned to one that I was
on a list for a liver transplant, and the reporter
put that in his article. But he also wrote, as you
saw, that I believed Myron, because of me, was
especially aware of protecting people’s health.
So my idea: What if we include ourselves in
the commercial, as his advisors and seniors, and
discuss our problems? It wouldn’t be like the
typical political ad on TV that records strangers
saying they know the candidate cares about
some issue. Viewers know these speakers on the
street then walk away. But, as his advisors, we’d
say we’re staying right next to Myron in the
campaign. We become symbols for the leadership
of seniors and Myron.”
“We just have thirty seconds,” replies Bob. “I
mean, Kenny—I hate to ask—but once an actor
always an actor. You wouldn’t expect our quick
commercial will get you an agent? I’m sorry, but
that’s why my wife calls me cynical.”
“I don’t think agents want to sign on an
actor waiting for a liver transplant,” defends
Kenny, staring at Bob—
“Bob, please,” says Joan, his wife, “you are
being the advertising cynic. I like Kenny’s idea.
I wouldn’t mind saying I had breast cancer. I
also wouldn’t mind holding our grandson and
saying our son is looking to switch jobs, but is
terribly hampered because we don’t have a lot of
programs, like in other countries, paying businesses
to hire and train new workers on the
job. Then I’d say I’m part of Myron’s advisory
team and will be close to him. And Myron can
introduce himself at the end of the commercial
reciting his experiences.”
Continued on page 8
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Page 8 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
BOOKS
The Retired (Try To) Strike Back
Continued from page 7
“Well, my wife, the former radio commercial
writer and then account executive who had
to hold client hands, is finally moving over to
TV creative,” says Bob. He smiles and raises his
coffee cup to his wife—but then blows her a kiss.
“I could do a few lines being the retired
social worker,” adds Steven. “About how today
social workers just want to be therapists because
that’s what makes money, and don’t advocate
for policy changes that often
require years before they can
help large numbers of people.
But if grant awards were given for successful
policy changes, so these advocates could be paid,
social workers would be identifying small, new
programs every day that cost nothing or very
little and could improve life in every area—
housing, health, schools, jobs. And I’d end up
saying, ‘And I’m a Myron advisor too.’”
“I like it, Bob,” says Mimi.
“You amateurs are better than the old
advertising cynic,” answers Bob.
The friends smile at each other, more raising
of coffee cups to each other—
“But what if our commercial doesn’t
increase the awareness of Myron to a public out
there that’s judging in thirty seconds?” Bob asks.
“What’s more important? To make sure people
in our district recognize, and then tell others,
that the country’s political polarization can be
lessened by seniors, who if elected, need to make
change happen soon? Or for Myron to beat
an opponent who’s been a city lawyer living off
No Guarantees: One Man’s Road Through the Darkness of Depression
Chapter Nineteen – Hiding in Plain Sight
The days between visits to my
doctor during those first few
weeks were driven by my need to survive, a goal
complicated by the requirement to hide my
condition and keep my job, while also dealing
with a set of symptoms that grew in number and
intensity.
If you were to meet me in my office during
those early days, you would have observed a
person who appeared to alternate between the
extremes of quiet intensity and manic agitation.
You would have encountered someone who was
constantly sweating, preoccupied and losing
weight at a precipitous rate. You would also have
noticed, had I not had an out of the way office,
that I made at least thirty trips a day to the water
fountain or men’s room. This last item was necessitation
by my inability to sit still, persistent panic
attacks and the need to urinate frequently that
accompanied my anxiety problem.
What you would not have seen was the
agitation and impatience I was feeling to get
closure on the obsessions, self-loathing, and
doubt about everything I was or thought I was.
You also would not have been aware that I was
singularly terrified all of the time. I also endlessly
talked about the issues I was obsessing about
to anyone I thought could help me. I could not
stop. This dynamic would create a great deal of
damage before I was able to get it under control,
a subject we will take up a little later in this
chapter.
BUDGETS
By BOB MARRONE
All I wanted to do was make the pain stop.
I could not concentrate, nor did I care about my
work in any genuine way. What I cared about
was keeping my job and feeding my family.
There were four circumstances of good
fortune that enabled me to get through this
stage of my illness. First, I had literally just
changed jobs within my company, so no one
in my new shop was familiar with the more
outgoing and relaxed way I had carried myself
before. Second, I began my new position as an
instructor just when the Training Department
was revising its curriculum and building new
courses. As such, the emphasis was on design of
lesson plans and manuals, rather than standup
classroom instruction that wouldn’t pick up until
the new courses were ready. Third, I had my own
office, which enabled me to hide the worst of
my symptoms and odd behaviors from superiors
and coworkers, and to work on my instructional
materials without having to interact with others.
Interaction was also becoming a problem
due to a worsening collection of phobias. The
initial claustrophobia I experienced on the
airplane ride a few weeks before had given way
to other more debilitating fears and sensations. It
was becoming ever more difficult to look people
in the eye without feeling the need to pull my
head to the side and/or have my voice crack with
anxiety. I also was becoming unable to be travel
in wide open spaces. A sense of paranoia that
those around me might know what was going
Are You Getting Your Fair Share of The State Budget?
By FRANK VERNICCIO, Jr.
Does Westchester receive its’
fair share of the state budget? A
new report from the Rockefeller
Institute reveals that it may not.
According to the “Giving
and Getting” study, released in December at the
University of Albany, the downstate suburbs,
(Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau and
Suffolk) with 21.7% of the population, provide
about 27% of the state’s revenue, but only get
back just over 17%. New York City also contributes
more than it receives. Roughly speaking,
on, or worse, thought that I was useless, also
began to grow.
One of the strangest and frightening set of
feelings was what can best be described as hypersensitivity,
a phenomena I mentioned earlier in
the book. Light made me flinch. Heat made me
broil. Wind felt like daggers against my skin, and
sudden head movements exacerbated my anxiety
and left me with vertigo. I also experienced what
is called depersonalization, a syndrome where
you feel that you are outside yourself. These
symptoms interacted with the phobias in such
a way that I had to carefully calculate where I
went, and try and limit the number of people I
would have to see.
I mentioned earlier that there were four items
of good fortune. The fourth and the best was the
presence of my best friend, Vince, on the training
staff. Vincent A. Russo, known as Vinny to most
when we were younger, was born and raised in
Brooklyn. As he entered the professional world
of adulthood, his moniker morphed into the
more mature and less ethnically based ‘Vince’. I
cannot remember the last time I called him either
name. He is and has been for decades Partner,
Cuz, Norton, Mr. Fabersham, Pal, Mr. Harper
( the last four a reference to our mutual love of
The Honeymooners ), with a few Scumbags
or Douche-bags thrown in, the latter two an
acknowledgement of our lives in South Brooklyn.
We have been friends for almost fifty-five
years, and close for about forty-five. When I
with 42.9% of the state population,
NYC provides 45% of
the state’s income, and gets
40% back.
By contrast, the rest
of the state (including the
Capital Region, with 4.2% of the population,
and upstate, with 31.2%) contributes 24% and
gets 35% back.
There are several ways in which the share
of funds can be calculated, and some provide
taxpayer money, ranked near the bottom of her
law school class, and had a marriage lasting one
week? Yes, I’ve been doing a little research. Tell
me, with our limited budget, which commercial
do we need?”
Allan Luks is anationally recognized social works
leader and advocate for volunteerism. He is currently
a visiting professor at Fordham university, where he
teaches several courses in nonprofit leadership.Learn
more at http://allanluks.com. Direct email to
allan@allanluks.com.
first arrived at 24th Street, he was one of the
kids from the “apartment house,” a working and
lower middle class building filled with hundreds
of families. The tenants were known for working
hard, sending their kids to catholic schools and
praying that their kids would not get in with the
gangs that were prevalent during the late fifties
and early sixties. The kids there were know for
being tough and good athletes. I was neither. But
, in time, after my arrival from my foster parents
home I…one of the kids form the private houses
up the street… would join them.
When we were very young, say from age
seven until about fourteen, Vince and I friends.
We were destined to bond more closely later on
when we both became hockey players, and more
so still later when we shared intellectual and
professional interests. You will learn much more
about Vince as we move through these early
weeks and when therapy focuses on the issues
in my life. Throughout my life, this uncommonly
intelligent man has been a teacher, a collaborator
and an alter ego.
It was Vince who helped me to stop verbally
obsessing every day in my office or during our
lunchtime walks along Nassau Street in Lower
Manhattan. I still remember the day he turned
to me with strident concern, “Hey Del (will
talk about this name later), you have got to stop
taking like this; you are making yourself worse.
You have got to talk with your doctor.” That
declaration, plus my doctor’s admonition that
I bring the issues only to his office each week,
was the first itty-bitty step in the long road to
recovery.
And so, my therapy began on week two.
Bob Marrone is the host of the Good Morning
Westchester with Bob Marrone, heard from Monday
to Friday, from 6 – 8:30 a.m., on WVOX-1460 AM.
a less unbalanced picture, particularly when
federal funds are included. But most accounting
methods concur that downstate doesn’t get back
all that it sends.
Over the years, New Yorkers from every
region have expressed concern about the
geographic distribution of state budget dollars.
Upstaters often believe they subsidize downstate
social welfare programs; downstaters believe they
are not getting a fair share of education
Continued on page 9

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 9
BUDGETS
Are You Getting Your Fair Share of The State Budget?
Continued from page 8
funds (and have sued the state on that issue.)
Numerous subsidiary questions, such as the fair
distribution of state prisons and state universities,
and their effects on local economies, are often
part of the debate.
However the funds are apportioned, it is
clear that New York as a whole must rethink
both its level of taxation (3 rd highest in the
NAJAH’S CORNER
Creating a Monster, Part 1
By NAJAH MUHAMMAD
As he lay there in bed, he began to regain
consciousness. Eyes still closed; ears wide open.
He began to sigh as he thought it feels good
to listen. It was as if he could feel the sun rising
by the sounds the Earth was producing. The
wind whistled past as if it was calling the trees
to adornment. The trees, oh, they sounded like
ocean tide; swaying so abrasively yet sounding
so soothing. The song of the trees seemed to
be an alarm clock signaling the diurnal animals
that their time has come. He heard the birds
in all their euphonic commotion; each singing
a different song. He heard bees descending,
basking in the sunlight. He heard their wings
fading as they probably foraged for pollen.
Laying there in his shabby, rundown cot, posted
against the left corner of his one-story wooden
cabin, he lived vicariously through the mellifluous
sounds of the creatures that came to pass.
Night after night, day after day, whenever he
could find a moment of rest he closed his eyes
and faded into an inner utopia; inspired by the
sounds of freedom around him. It was perfect
each time, just like now. Perfect.
Just as he began to fall back asleep a sharp
wetness smacked his face. His lungs flooded
as he took in a breath. Coughing as he opened
his eyes he saw Mister standing over him with
an empty bucket. The boy reached down and
picked up a rag as he shivered from the coldness
of the water.
Mister was a tall gauntly looking man, thin
from scarcity of food. He was an old man somewhere
in his 50’s though his years of smoking
aged him far past that. He was a feeble, wicked
old bum whose back hunched over a bit. His
skin, the color of a brown paper bag, was dull
and wrinkly. The veins were visible on his hands
and on his neck. His hands shook as he tried to
hold himself up with his cane. His clothes were
oversized. He was dressed in large black pants, a
holey, off-white shirt, and tarnished grey boots.
“Wake up boy!” he yells. “Yes, Uncle Roger,” the
boy replies. “What did I tell you to call me?” “Yes,
Mister,” the boy corrects himself. “You got five
minutes to get dressed little boy; I’ll wait outside.
And you know I won’t wait long. If you want
nation) and its’ spending habits.
The ink was barely dry on last year’s budget
deal before many, including NYC’s Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, labeled it a “rip off.”
County governments from the far north to
the extreme south groaned over the continuing
burden of unfunded mandates. Homeowners,
particularly in Westchester and Rockland, two
of the highest taxed counties in the nation,
to eat, you better
make it snappy.”
The sink was
parallel to the bed.
The boy ran to it as Mister wobbled out the door.
Hastily, the boy took a bird bath and had already
used up about half of the time he was allotted.
He was a handsome, young man; around fifteen
years of age. He was tall as well, and slinky from
that awkward stage of puberty. It was obvious he
was not related to Mister at all. The roundness in
his facial features and the shape of his eyes and
nose were a clear indication. As he dressed in the
same clothes he wore yesterday, he stopped, and
took a couple of seconds to stare at his reflection
in the dirty mirror over the sink. He noticed the
richness of his brown skin and the darkness of
his thick hair. Then he shook his head in dissatisfaction
and headed out the door.
“You took long enough boy,” says Mister in
a condescending manner. The boy helped Mister
finish getting the horses properly attached to the
carriage. As they finish up Mister utters, “I don’t
like you much boy, but I had much respect for
your mother before she passed. She was smart.
She was beautiful. Your mother was the only one
of us who went to school. And she did well. You
know what I loved about her? She dreamed of
being rich. She did, and so did I. If your no good
father were here I’d probably hate him as much
as I hate you. Maybe more.”
The boy put his head down in shame. “Do
you want to know why I hate you boy? After all
today is your birthday right? You’ve been with
me from the time you were two, and now you
are fifteen.”
Now struggling to get onto the carriage
Mister begins to tell his story. The boy is sitting
next to him trying to keep balance as the rocky
carriage moved forward. The breeze fluttered
by and Mister turned to look at the boy, then
the boy turned to look at Mister. The boy’s face
spoke desperate curiosity.
Najah Muhammad is a 17-year-old senior in high
school. She plans to attend college next year majoring
in communications.
remain deeply concerned over how to pay for
ever increasing property taxes—even with the
2% cap. (In fact, according to the Public Policy
Institute, the 15 counties with the worst property
tax burdens are all located in New York.)
Individuals attempting to prosper and grow
businesses are frequently ignored by the State
Senate and the State Assembly, whose members
cater far too often to special interests. New York’s
onerous personal income tax (which is highly
progressive, imposing increasing burdens on
those most likely to generate jobs or business)
remains an incentive to leave the Empire State
for more friendly jurisdictions.
calendar
Robert J. Seitz, Jr.
The State Legislature begins its’ session on
January 4, and is supposed to have enacted a new
budget by April 1. Will Albany provide a fair
and responsible budget by then, if at all?
The fighting goes beyond Democrat /
Republican, upstate vs. downstate. It is also a
“politicians vs. the people” donnybrook. An equitable
approach, equally acceptable to citizens
from Niagara Falls to the sandy beaches of Long
Island, must be adopted.
For further information, contact Frank Vernuccio by
directing email to: nycommunityaction@gmail.com.
Future of Jerusalem Topic of Upcoming Lecture
What is the future of
Jerusalem? A detailed examination
of Israel’s vision for its
ancient holy city and the city’s
likely future prospects is the
topic of a provocative four-part
series at Temple Israel of New
Rochelle. The second in the
series, which is sponsored by The
Israel Action Committee, will
be held Tuesday, January 17 at
7:30 pm. There is no charge for
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the lecture and the community
is welcome.
Presenting an overview as
well as a detailed analysis will be
Shlomi Kofman, Deputy Consul
General of Israel in New York,
Israel’s largest mission, where his
role is to coordinate the political
work of the Consulate in the tristate
area, developing relations
with national, state and local
Continued on page 10

Page 10 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
calendar
Future of Jerusalem Topic of Upcoming Lecture
Continued from page 9
officials. He maintains regular contact with those
following major foreign policy and strategic
issues at think tanks and elite universities.
Prior to his appointment, Kofman served
as Foreign affairs Advisor to the Israeli Minister
of National Infrastructures, and as head of the
Department of Foreign Affairs in the Ministry
of National Infrastructures. Before that he was
CALENDAR
The weather outside hasn’t
been frightful, but the fire
is still delightful and since
there’s no place to go…the
area ski venues are singing
“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” and speaking
of delightful…please enjoy this week’s “News
and Notes.”
Our northern Westchester neighbor
Martha Stewart, one of Bedford’s most notable
residents, will be losing her show on the
Hallmark Channel at the end of the current TV
season, maybe she should bake up a batch of her
famous cookies and send some to the programming
folks over at Hallmark...
The White Plains Rotary Club and the
city’s Fire Department are sponsoring a food
drive through January 27 th . Canned goods may
be dropped off at the city firehouses in White
Plains.
Congratulations goes out to North Salem
resident Nancy Pearson who was recently
appointed the vice president of the board
of directors of CAREERS for people with
head of the Department of Foreign Affairs
in the Knesset and served as Chief of Staff to
ambassadors Sallai Meridor and Danny Ayalon
at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. He
also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the
Embassy of Israel in Bangkok from 2003-2005
and directed Israel’s aid operations during and
after the tsunami disaster of December2004.
Earlier in his career, Kofman was officer of
News & Notes from Northern Westchester
By MARK JEFFERS
CHARITY
The Yonkers Police
Benevolent Association
announced they and
Yonkers Fire Local 628
would present a check in
the amount of $63,000
to the Elizabeth Seton
Pediatric Center. The presentation
is scheduled for Wednesday,
January 11 th, at 11am. and will
take place at the new state of the
art Elizabeth Seton Pediatric
Center facility located at 300
Corporate Blvd. South, Yonkers,
NY.
The Yonkers PBA and Yonkers Fire
Local 628 raised the money to be donated at
Disabilities Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated
to finding productive employment for
individuals with disabilities.
The Briarcliff Manor Police Benevolent
Association is holding a coat drive through
January 30 th . New or gently-used coats of any
size can be dropped off at Police Headquarters
on Pleasantville Road, for more information call
914-941-2130.
Calling all beauty pageant aficionados
starting on Saturday January 14th at 2:00 pm
the Miss Teen New York USA pageant will be
held at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase
College.
Now that winter is finally setting in, it is time
to start curling up by the fire and reading a good
book. The question is what to read…problem
solved, on every second Friday of the month the
Bedford Free Library hosts a brown bag book
chat, where people can gather to discuss books
you have liked, hated, old ones, new ones, and of
course give recommendations. No registration is
necessary just bring a bagged lunch.
If you are looking for a way to help
Yonkers PBA to Make Donation to Seton Pediatric Center
the Yonkers Police vs.
Yonkers Fire Toughman
Competition, which was
held on October 28 th ,
2011.
“Yonkers Finest
boxing Yonkers Bravest
is one of the most popular and
successful events in the City
of Yonkers,” noted Det. Keith
Olson, president of the Yonkers
PBA, brimming with pride, The
latest Toughman was the seventh
event of the series and through
the years has raised more than
$400,000 for various local charities
the desk of Chinese and Korean affairs at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and prior to that,
Deputy Chief of Mission at the Consulate
General of Israel in Shanghai.
He earned an MBA from Webster
University in St. Louis while serving in
Shanghai. He also holds a BA in International
and East Asian Studies from Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, as well as an AS in Electronic
Engineering and a teaching certificate.
Kofman was born in Tbilisi, the capital of
keep your exercise resolutions going strong,
consider signing up for the 26 th Running of
the Leatherman’s Loop 10k Trail Race at Ward
Pound Ridge Reservation. Registration for the
Loop Lottery is open until January 16 th . The
actual event will take place on April 22 nd at the
Reservation. I’m starting my training right now!
The Emergency Shelter Partnership is
looking for donations of old bath towels, which
I know we have…The Partnership provides
food, shelter, and a shower to local people who
need a place to stay for the night. Those in need
register with the police department in Mt. Kisco
and are then brought to area churches. The First
Presbyterian Church of Katonah, which is the
church we belong to, is hosting the Partnership
January 16th to the 22 nd .
January 15th through February 19th the
Katonah Museum of Art will be showing a
Tri-State Juried Exhibition: Art to the Point.
The Juror, Donald Sultan, is a distinguished
American painter, printmaker, and sculptor. This
exhibition focuses on clarity and vision in the
simplest of terms and mediums. The idea is to
get away from clutter and agendas, and concentrate
solely on art. This is a great opportunity to
view art in is simplest form, and no one knows
simple better than me!
For all pre-school and incoming kindergarten
parents the Katonah- Lewisboro School
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Three Veils and More
By SHERIF AWAD
With only two feature
films to her credit, Arab
American writer-director
Rolla Selbak made a
name for herself as the up
and coming feminist filmmaker among those
in independent cinema. The self-taught Selbak
succeeded in garnering funds for her early
camera trials that made it onto festival circuits,
first across the United States then to Europe.
Rolla Selbak was born in the United States
but moved to Abu Dhabi with her Palestinian
parents when she was only four months old.
Raised in the Emirates, she again returned to
the United States as a teen when it was time for
the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 1970.
He moved to Israel with his family at the age
of 9. Today he and his family live in New York.
The remaining series’ segments will be held
March 13 and May 22.
Guests planning to attend are requested to
RSVP to Barbara Kantor at the Temple office,
(914) 235-1800. Temple Israel is located at 1000
Pinebrook Blvd, New Rochelle, New York.
District is hosting a panel discussion to provide
them with all the information they need to help
their children prepare for school. This event
was postponed in November, and will now be
held on January 18 th from 9:30-10:45am in the
Increase Miller Elementary Cafeteria. After
going through school with three teenage daughters
I consider myself an expert!
Jumping ahead about ten years, for those
parents starting to think about their kids going
off to college and their SAT/ACT scores, there
is a free SAT/ACT combo practice test at the
Fox Lane High School in Bedford on January
19th at 4:00pm. This combo test will help
students figure out which exam might be a
better fit. Bring a calculator, No. 2 pencils, and a
snack for the marathon of tests.
Did you know that 2012 is a Leap Year, an
Olympic Year and an Election Year, with all that
going on, the best advice I can offer is to make
sure you pick up this wonderful publication each
week to keep up on what’s happening…see you
next week.
Mark Jeffers successfully spearheaded the launch of
MAR$AR Sports & Entertainment LLC in 2008.
As president he has seen rapid growth of the company
with the signing of numerous clients. He resides in
Bedford Hills, New York, with his wife Sarah, and
three daughters, Kate, Amanda, and Claire.
her to complete her high school and university
studies. After receiving a major in computer
science, Rolla worked as a Linux programmer
and was assigned in different European cities;
places like Madrid and Berlin. When she moved
back to the States, Selbak settled down in San
Francisco, and then in Riverside. Day by day, her
enthusiasm to move from science into art was
growing.
“My love for cinema started when I was
a just a young girl playing with an old VHS
camera to film my brother and sister in funny
outfits. When I grew up, I started to write my
first feature length scripts without taking any
film courses. I even tried to sell some of my writings
in those L.A. Seminars where scripts and
pitches can be purchased for only 300 dollars,”
remembers Rolla, who decided to shoot her first
short film on weekends while keeping her
Continued on page 11

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 11
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Three Veils and More
Continued from page 10
daytime job. “For up and coming filmmakers,
finding some funds is not an easy task because
right now many newcomers want to produce
their scripts through independent companies
because studio materials are mostly repetitive
and recycled. But independent companies are
finding it hard to satisfy the
needs of everybody on the
film scene due the current
economic recession.”
London Bridge was
Rolla’s first short in which
she reflected upon the
sense of isolation felt by a
middle-aged woman who,
near the end of the film,
commits suicide. “The film
was so shocking to some
viewers, including my
parents who came to me
thinking I was depressed,”
laughs Rolla who kept on
shooting short films until
she wrote and directed her first feature Making
Maya in 2003. The drama had a focus on female
characters but this time, they were of younger
age. The title character, Maya, was a beautiful
high school graduate who dreams of a career
in basketball. However, an unexpected romance
with Sam, another attractive college girl changes
Maya’s life forever. “I wanted to make an unconventional
yet realistic story about young women,
their friendship and their emotional inquisitiveness
during their coming-of-age,” says Selback
who succeeded to wrap the film with only a
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
budget of $6,000 Dollars. It would come to win
a positive review in Variety after a time and was
warmly received in Dances with Films Festival,
Santa Monica, and Longbaugh Film Festival,
Portland. Rolla Selbak showed an early talent in
creating engaging lively characters in both films.
She also went on to compose some of the tunes
in the soundtracks heard in the films.
The success of Making Maya was the cata-
Three Veils
lyst that would drive Selbak to write and direct
her second film, Three Veils, that earned more
acclaim across the States and Europe in 2011. It
was nominated for Best Film, Best Director and
Best Screenplay at Arpa Festival, and received the
Best Actress Award that went to Angela Zahra
at the New York City International Film Festival
last August. This time, Selbak worked within a
bigger budget (around $100,000 Dollars) and
notably, a more experienced cast and crew. The
title is a metaphoric description of the boundaries
around three young Middle-Eastern
Cintas Corporation Serving Westchester County, NY
Relocates to New Facility in North Salem
NORTH SALEM, NY - Cintas Corporation on Thursday,
January 5, 2012, announced that its uniform rental facility
serving Westchester County has moved from its former location
at 1801 Rt. 22 in Brewster, NY, to a
newly renovated facility located at 55 Fields
Lane in North Salem, NY. The relocation
took effect Monday, January 3, 2012.
“We are very excited and fortunate to be
moving to a new, state of the art facility that
will better accommodate the growing needs
of our customers,” said Adam Del Vecchio,
General Manager. “Our employee-partners
will be more comfortable and will be able to more rapidly
serve the growing demands of the marketplace with the
exemplary service our customers have grown to expect from
Cintas,” he added.
Cintas employs approximately 65 people at the Brewster
facility and plans to hire approximately 10 additional
employee-partners after the move. The relocation will be
transparent to Cintas’ existing customers.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation
provides highly specialized services
to businesses of all types primarily
throughout North America. Cintas
designs, manufactures and implements
corporate identity uniform
programs, and provides entrance
mats, restroom supplies, promotional
products, first aid, safety, fire
protection products and services
and document management services for approximately
900,000 businesses. Cintas is a publicly held company traded
over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol
CTAS, and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500
Index
women living in the U.S, each with her own
personal story. Leila is engaged to be married,
however as the wedding night approaches, she
becomes less and less sure of how her life is
playing out. Amira is a very devout Muslim,
but is dealing with her deep repressions about
her intimate feelings toward women. Nikki is
acting out her promiscuity as she battles her own
demons after a tragic death in the family. As the
Rolla Selback
film progresses, all three stories unfold and blend
into each other as connections between the three
women are revealed.
Both Making Maya and Three Veils had
young women discovering their homosexuality.
However, according to Selbak, it is still an uneasy
subject to tackle on celluloid. In fact, many states
are still conservative about this subject while
others suffer from the obsession of American
media about who is in and who is out of the
closet. “Homosexuality and gay marriages are
still touchy subjects in many American states.
Few want to bring the issue center stage, especially
if he or she is running for political office.
It is still taboo in a state as large as California,
with large cities like Los Angeles and San Diego,
whereas in countries like Spain, it is not a big
deal,” she says.
Although Selback presented true-to-life
female characters in her two films, she thinks it
was not because she is a woman. “The realistic
portrayal of females does
not depend on the gender
of the filmmaker but on his
or her ability to create vivid
and believable characters
on screen,” argues Selback.
“For instance, The Hours,
that starred Nicole Kidman,
Julianne Moore and Meryl
Streep was directed by
Stephen Daldry and based
on a novel by Michael
Cunningham. On the
other hand, a director
like Kathryn Bigelow has
presented films with strong
male characters, like her
Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker.”
Selbak’s first wish for 2012 is for Three Veils
to push the boundaries by being shown to an Arab
population, native to cities she knows after the good
rotation among various Western festivals.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Sherif Awad is a film/video
critic and curator. He is the film editor of Egypt
Today Magazine, and the artistic director for both
the Alexandria Film Festival, in Egypt, and the
Arab Rotterdam Festival, in The Netherlands. He
also contributes to Variety, in the United States, and
Variety Arabia, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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Page 12 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
One Road, Two Windfalls for Peekskill’s Main Street
By ABBY LUBY
PEEKSKILL, NY -
Main Street in Peekskill
is finally getting a facelift.
This historical river city
has been knocking on funding doors for
years and not only has the county appropriated
monies, but so has the state.
Are the two projects on a collision
course?
“There won’t be any conflict. We
are coordinating both projects,” said
Peekskill Planning Director Anthony
Ruggiero. “We’ve worked before with
Westchester County DOT (Department
of Transportation) and they are aware of
both projects.”
Peekskill received some $665,000
from the federal Department of
Transportation budget, an award overseen by
the then Congressman John Hall. The funds
will be distributed by New York State DOT.
Peekskill has for years wanted to replace the
rough, potholed Main Street/Route 6 that is the
major welcoming thoroughfare into the city. The
original request was for $3 million to upgrade
the greater part of Route 6 in Peekskill, but since
only $665,000 was awarded, the project is scaled
Main Street Peekskill facing west, with retaining wall that is part of the
new road project. Photo by Abby Luby and courtesy of Abby Luby Photo.
down to cover High Street to Hamilton Avenue.
The city will be kicking in $200,000 towards the
project from its capital budget.
Of ongoing concern is the danger to pedestrians
trying to cross the street by the retaining
wall that stretches along Main Street because
there is no sidewalk, just steps spilling out into
the street.
“We worry about children that are hidden in
the stairwell and then step right into the street,”
Texas de Brazil to Open in Ridge Hill
YONKERS, NY -- Texas de Brazil, the nation’s
premier Brazilian steakhouse, has announced
the grand opening of its 23 rd restaurant at
Westchester’s Ridge Hill on January 17. Offering
an extensive menu of acclaimed Southern
Brazilian cuisine with the generous spirit of
Texas, Texas de Brazil’s vibrant atmosphere
and extensive menu is sure to
dazzle every guest. In honor of
its opening, Texas de Brazil is
offering guests a chance to experience
the Churrascaria with full
dinner and dessert included for
$44.99 until February 29, 2012.*
The dynamic menu at Texas
de Brazil with extensive meat
selections including Brazilian
sausage, chicken breast wrapped
in bacon, rack of lamb and
the house specialty, picanha,
all prepared in the traditional
Brazilian method, over an open
flame, and carved tableside by the restaurant’s
authentically costumed Brazilian cowboys or
“Gauchos.” Accompaniments with the cuts of
meat include garlic mashed potatoes, Brazilian
cheese bread, and sweet-fried bananas. The
restaurant also features a gourmet salad area
containing more than 50 items, where items
include but are surly not limited to, Brazilian
black beans with pork, imported cheeses,
marinated Portobello mushrooms, sushi, and
artichoke hearts. Guests can conclude their
dining experience with one of Texas de Brazil’s
many dessert selections, relax with an afterdinner
drink, or a steaming espresso.
New York residents can sign up immediately
for the Texas de Brazil e-club and be one
of the first receive important opening announcements,
complimentary dinners for birthdays
and anniversaries and special event invitations.
said Peekskill Councilmember
Drew Claxton. “We want to
make our main street safer and
more pedestrian friendly.”
Along with rebuilding the
retaining wall, the upgrade will
also include new sidewalks, handicapped
ramps, more parking on
the South side of Route 6, newly
painted crosswalks, new curbs
and landscaping.
“The city staff has also been
trying to get the County to agree
to fund some safety improvements
at Benefield Blvd. and
Dayton Lane,” said Peekskill
Mayor Mary Foster. “Also, Con
Edison is coordinating a gas line
replacement/repair project for
the same area. This project has
many moving parts.”
The other “moving part” is
a concurrent project funded by
the county to rehabilitate East
and West Main Street from Route 9 to Conklin
Avenue (near the Hudson Valley Hospital). $2.8
million was secured by County Legislator John
Testa (R-District 1) last October in a Bond Act
and will cover the cost of replacing the existing
road surface, installing reflective devices and
pavement markings. The project will cover 2.14
miles of Route 9 to Main Street, one of the most
Log on at www.texasdebrazil.com and click on
“Rewards”.
Texas de Brazil at Westchester Ridge Hill
will be open for dinner Monday – Thursday
from 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., Friday from 5:30
p.m. – to 10:30 p.m., Saturday from 4:00 p.m. –
10:30 p.m. and Sunday from 4:00 p.m. – 10:00
p.m. The dining prices are $46.99 for Regular
Dinner and $24.99 for Light Dinner (excluding
beverage and dessert). Children under 2 are free,
heavily trafficked roads in the area; averaging
almost 10,000 vehicles a day and over a third of
those vehicles are commercial trucks.
Although Testa, who is also a former
Peekskill mayor, said he wasn’t aware of the state
project, he said he was anxious to see the county
work start.
“We are looking forward to improving the
road, especially in the downtown area. We hope
to get under way by spring or summer of 2012.
Main Street and Route 202 have taken a beating
over the years.”
According to Ruggiero, the state project is
now being reviewed by the NYSDOT.
“The DOT has to make sure the project is
up to their engineering standards before we get
the grant funds.”
The county is responsible for paving the
road, while the state monies will take care of the
retaining wall and everything else in the project
not covered by the county. Ruggiero emphasized
that the city was trying to make sure work
between county and state wouldn’t overlap.
“We intend to coordinate it so there is less
burden to the commuting public. We don’t want
to close the roads twice.”
Abby Luby is a Westchester based, freelance journalist
who writes local news, about environmental
issues, art, entertainment and food. Her debut novel,
“Nuclear Romance” was recently published. Visit the
book’s website, http://nuclearromance.wordpress.com/.
from ages 3-5 the price is $5.00, and children
6-12 dine for half price.
More information including the official
opening date and private dining will be available
shortly, in the meantime, please visit: www.texasdebrazil.com
for information.
Texas de Brazil is family owned and operated.
Started in 1998, the company has quickly
grown into one of the country’s premier
Churrascarias, currently operating 20 domestic
locations and three international
locations. The restaurant’s menu
consists of 15 grilled meats;
all prepared in the traditional
Brazilian method over an open
flame and carved tableside by
the restaurant’s authentically
costumed Gauchos, as well as
an elaborate salad area, wine list,
dessert menu, full liquor bar and
private rooms available for special
functions. Future growth includes
planned locations for Salt Lake
City, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and
Houston. For more information
visit www.texasdebrazil.com.
Special offer is available through February
29, 2012 and valid for up to eight guests per
table/reservation, excluding February 14, 2012.
Not valid with any other offers. Beverages, tax
and gratuity not included, other restrictions may
apply.

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 13
HISTORY
Fighting Peekskill’s City Hall
By ROBERT SCOTT
The honeymoon of Chester
Smith and the newly elected
Mackay administration in
1940 was short-lived. As in
many marriages, the split came
over money.
During the campaign, Mackay and his
Democratic Common Council candidates had
promised economies in government. Once
in office, however, they surprised Smith and
other supporters by proposing a 1941 Peekskill
budget that called for spending a whopping
$766,777.06.
Moreover, they proposed hefty raises for
city officials: a 43% jump in salary for the city
judge (from $2,800 to $4,000), a 33% boost
for the corporation counsel (from $3,000 to
$4,000), and a 20% increase for the city clerk
(from $2,500 to $3,000). The administration
also proposed to create the post of deputy comptroller
with a salary of $3,600 for newly elected
comptroller Albert E. Cruger.
Democratic council members made
another tactical mistake; this one fatal. Chester
Smith tended to monopolize and even dominate
council meetings. Council members began
to ignore him and disregard his suggestions and
requests.
Smith’s Non-Partisan Citizens Committee
declared its opposition to the new administration’s
proposed budget. It bought newspaper
advertising and mounted a direct-mail campaign
that reached all 2,671 eligible voters.
Roadblocks
The council countered with a series of
high-handed tactics. Instead of scheduling
the budget vote at the traditional location, the
Peekskill High School gymnasium, they stirred
up a hornet’s nest by choosing the inappropriate
and much smaller three-year-old Municipal
Building.
To further discourage voter turnout, the
council set the time of the voting for the brief
90-minute period between 7:30 and 9 p.m.,
Tuesday, December 3, 1940. Only two voting
machines were installed. The new administration
was obviously making it difficult for voters
to show their feelings about the budget.
The strategy backfired. Despite these roadblocks,
622 taxpayers turned out on a cold winter
night. A line three-deep snaked its way out of
the Municipal Building’s rotunda and down the
curved staircase onto Main Street. Many waited
for hours to vote; some gave up and returned
home.
To accommodate the waiting crowd, voting
continued until after midnight. In the final
tally, an overwhelming 80% said no. The actual
numbers were 499 against the budget and only
123 in favor of it.
“Last night’s election was a definite
repudiation of
the present city
administration,”
opined a Peekskill
Evening Star
editorial the next
day. The paper
followed this
with another Chester A. Smith. Courtesy of
strong editorial Peekskill Museum.
calling for selfish
political maneuvering to stop.
Fighting City Hall
Immediately after the vote, Chester Smith
called upon Mayor James Mackay and council
member Horton, who had both defended the
budget, to resign. Mackay was no neophyte in
politics--he had been Peekskill’s president in
the mid-1930s when it was still a village. An
executive with the Campbell-Ewald advertising
agency at 10 Rockefeller Plaza in New York
City, Mackay decided the game wasn’t worth the
candle and stepped aside.
In January of 1941, the weekly Highland
Democrat hailed Chester Smith as its “Man of
the Year.” Editor George E. Briggs praised him
as both a “king maker” and a “king toppler.”
The Common Council named a council
member, 65-year-old banker William T. Horton,
to serve out the remainder of Mackay’s term.
Horton was the retired manager of the
Fifth Avenue branch of the Corn Exchange
Bank in New York City. He had chaired the
committee that framed Peekskill’s city charter,
had served on the Peekskill Board of Education
and would later become Peekskill’s city historian
in 1946.
The resounding defeat of the 1941 budget
had an instant salutary effect. A chastened
Common Council suddenly found $19,010.90
that could be cut from the budget, reducing
it to $747,766.16. Chester Smith and the
Non-Partisan Citizens Committee quickly
gave their blessing to the new budget. A
second budget vote was scheduled for Monday,
December 30, 1940.
This time the high school gymnasium
was the polling place, and remained open an
ample eleven hours--from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Surprisingly, the same number of voters--622-
-turned out. Equally surprising, the split was
again 499 to 123--only this time the majority
approved the budget. The taxpayers had made
their point.
Budgets, of course, are an annual chore.
In 1941, a 1942 budget totaling $705,280
was proposed by the Democrats. Again an
unhappy Smith went into action, mounting an
anti-budget campaign that called for a reduction
of $65,772.80, cutting expenditures to
$639,507.20.
Non-Partisan Citizens Committee advertising
included a sample ballot pointedly
showing voters which lever to pull down to vote
against the proposed budget. The council stubbornly
refused to reduce the budget.
The Voters Speak
But more than the budget was at stake. Each
party also had a slate of candidates running for
mayor, council members and other city offices.
On Tuesday, November 4, 1931, 1,357 Peekskill
residents went to the polls. A convincing 71%
rejected the budget.
Voters also voiced their displeasure with
the Democrats. The entire Republican slate was
swept into office, including 53-year-old Ralph F.
Hopkins, a well-known local architect, as mayor,
and six Republican council members.
In addition to many local residences,
Mayor-elect Hopkins had designed the village’s
Colonial Revival-style Municipal Building
in 1936, and such landmarks as the Masonic
Temple (gutted by a disastrous fire on January
20, 2001), and the Guardian Annex. In 1950, he
would design Genung’s department store, which
later became the Howland department store and
now houses offices.
Before a new 1942 budget was put to a
vote, Chester Smith reiterated his demand
that $65,772.80 be cut. Knowing that the new
administration would have to live within any
Continued on page 14
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Page 14 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
HISTORY
Fighting Peekskill’s City Hall
Continued from page 13
budget approved by taxpayers, the lame-duck
Common Council outdid themselves. They cut
items totaling $77,838--18% more than Smith
had demanded.
Smith and his committee gave the reduced
budget of $627,442 their blessing. Voting was
set for Tuesday, December 23, 1941. Only 385
voters showed up at the polls, but 73% of them
approved the budget.
He was also instrumental in securing for
the Field Library the 13-room Victorian house
at 124 Union Avenue, the former Dwight Stiles
Herrick residence. The house badly needed
repairs, and taxes were owed by the owner,
Mrs. Ida M. Adams. When Peekskill began an
action because of nonpayment of taxes, Chester
Smith raised the money to pay them by selling a
portion of the property. He also raised $10,000
to renovate the house and an additional $13,500
as an endowment fund. After extensive repairs,
the Herrick house--now the Peekskill Museum-
-was opened to the public on May 17, 1946.
Mayor Ralph F. Hopkins would serve three
two-year terms. The Hopkins administration
eventually alienated Chester Smith. In
the 1947 election campaign, Chester
Smith and his Non-Partisan Citizens
Committee retaliated by backing the Democrats.
Peekskill voters roundly rejected the Republicans
in November. Under Mayor John N. Schneider,
the Democrats were returned to power.
Golden Years
Chester Smith had always been a lover of
books. A prolific author in his own right, he
created dozens of pamphlets and brochures on
a variety of subjects ranging from narrow local
issues to the question of Prohibition. He began
his writing career with a novel published in 1913.
The American Comedy, about Putnam County’s
political families, is now a collector’s item.
Over the years, Chester Smith had been
the prime mover in Peekskill’s Friendly Town
Association. He donated two parcels of undeveloped
land to the Association and convinced
others to do the same. The result was seven
privately owned parks open to the public. At
the time, Peekskill only had six city parks. When
Peekskill decided that the Association’s parks
would have to remain on the tax rolls, he offered
to give them to the city. Peekskill declined. Smith
decided to sell the parklands he had contributed.
In 1954, the Drew Seminary for Young
Women, a private secondary school in Carmel,
N.Y., declared bankruptcy. Smith, a trustee of
the Methodist school, was appalled that it was
unable to pay its debts. Legally, the school was
free of any obligation to pay, but he felt that the
debt should be paid in full.
“I got a good price for them,” he crowed.
“But I could have done better. I insisted in
putting in the deeds that the property never be
used for the manufacture or sale of spirits. A lot
of prospective buyers balked at that.” He added,
“I couldn’t help it, though. I’m a good Methodist.
Been fighting the liquor people all my life.” He
used the proceeds, $43,000, to pay the unpaid
portion of the Drew Seminary’s debt.
To everyone’s surprise, in the mid-1950s,
Chester Smith decided to become a lawyer. At
the age of 74, he graduated from the New York
Law School on June 18, 1959, with the degree
of Bachelor of Laws. Following graduation, he
was injured in an automobile accident, suffered
a heart attack and twice failed to pass the bar
examination.
Failing Health
A lifelong bachelor, in his later years, Chester
Smith lived alone after the death of his mother
and later his sister, Edith M. Smith, in 1950. On
July 24, 1968, he fell in the basement of his home
at 730 Hudson Avenue, after suffering what may
have been a mild heart attack.
Four years later, he died in the morning
of September 29, 1972, at the West Ledge
Extended Care Facility on East Main Street in
Peekskill, less than two months short of his 88th
birthday. His obituary made the front page of
that day’s edition of the Peekskill Evening Star.
It revealed that there were no immediate survivors,
and burial would be in Peekskill’s Hillside
Cemetery.
Peekskill owes much to Chester A. Smith.
Without his untiring efforts, it would not have
come into existence as a city when it did. He left
his mark on Peekskill in the form of numerous
plaques and memorials to its famous citizens
that dot the city.
Chester Smith’s voluminous papers,
including 88 diaries diligently-kept from 1897
to 1967, were deposited with the Syracuse
University Library. If anyone could take satisfaction
from a life spent in service to a community,
it was Chester Allen Smith.
MEDICINE
Tekturna Drug Combination Found Harmful!
By Dr. EVAN LEVINE
A few years ago I received a
call from my uncle, a diabetic,
after he visited his endocrinologist.
She had prescribed
a new and expensive drug
called Tekturna (Novartis)
in addition to his other standard
blood pressure medication, Avapro, to
help reduce the amount of protein in his urine
and possibly help reduce his risk of developing
kidney failure.
I had recalled the problems in heart failure
patients when two similar drugs, although
What’s the skinny on this scary
prediction? Here’s a sampling
of comments:
Martha Stewart: “Be
prepared. Pack yourself some
nice take-out meals that travel REALLY well.”
Queen Elizabeth II: “I’m not leaving
without my tiara, my royal robes, and my purse.”
Entrepreneur Donald Trump: “I STILL
they were not Tekturna, were added together.
I reviewed the data, and told him not to take
it. There was no long term studies with this
Tekturna combination, no evidence that the
combination of these two drugs, Tekturna
with an ARB drug or an ACEI drug, could
reduce kidney failure or reduce mortality, and
I worried if the addition of this drug to his
current medications might increase the chance
of a dangerous elevated potassium level or a low
blood pressure.
But a month or so later my uncle called
again. His endocrinologist assured him the
may run for president.”
Twitter executive: “Send some good-bye
tweets, but remember to keep them to 140
characters or fewer. The rules don’t change, just
because the world is ending.”
Chicken (The Sky is Falling) Little: “I told
you so! I told you so! You should have listened to
me a long time ago.”
Lady Gaga: “A least I got to kiss Mayor
drug was safe and that I could be responsible
for causing his kidneys to fail one day. She even
mentioned that her husband had been one of the
physicians who did the research on the drug and
again assured him he was making a big mistake
by listening to me.
This week the data and monitoring
committee for a major trial, known as the
Altitude trial, a trial that put patients on the
same combination of drugs my uncle would
have taken, had I not intervened, closed the trial.
They noted an increased incidence, after 18 to 24
months, of non-fatal stroke, renal complications,
high potassium levels, and hypotension in those
taking the drug Tekturna with the same type of
drug my uncle was on.
The unfortunate and frightening results
of this trial led Novartis to stop promoting the
use of Tekturna with the drugs like my uncle is
THE SPOOF
Ten Comments from Experts about the Possible Ending of the World in 2012
By GAIL FARRELLY
Bloomberg before my trip. It was better than
wearing a meat dress or riding around in an egg.”
Dick Clark: “I’ll be back next New Year’s
Eve.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: “Buy an Amazon
Kindle and pack it with books for your trip.”
John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives: “You know what Lesley Gore
says: It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to...”
taking. If you are taking Tekturna with drugs
known as Angiotensin Receptor Blockers
(ARBs) or Angiotensin Converting Enzyme
Inhibitors (ACEI), I urge you to call your physician
immediately. There are likely thousands of
patients on this harmful combination of medication
and they need to know that they might
be at risk. Perhaps I should find the e-mail of
my uncle’s endocrinologist and send her this
newspaper.
Evan S. Levine, MD FACC is the author of
“What Your Doctor Won’t (or Can’t) Tell You”
and a practicing cardiologist in Westchester and
The Bronx. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor
of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr.
Levine can be reached at 914-237-1332 or direct
mailto:VaNLeV@aol.com.
Gail Farrelly, spoof writer: “If you were foolish
enough to make New Year resolutions, break them
right now and have a blast doing it. Happy New
Year!”
Learn more about The Farrelly Sisters - Authors
online.

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 15
MOVIE REVIEW
Ed Koch Movie Reviews
By Edward I. Koch
Movie Review:
“The Iron Lady” (+)
This film is about Margaret Thatcher, a brilliant
and extraordinary woman. She was the daughter
of a grocer who overcame huge obstacles and rose
to become Prime Minister of England.
The scriptwriter, Abi Morgan, begins the
story with Thatcher’s retirement and dementia.
Regrettably, her dementia covers a third or more
of the movie, reducing her brilliant moments
and successes (shown in flashbacks) to a much
smaller depiction that she deserves. A friend of
mine with whom I served in government for more
than 40 years, John LoCicero, also saw the film.
When discussing the picture he said, “They would
not have spent so much time on the dementia
if the picture was about Ronald Reagan.” He is
Movie Review:
“War Horse” (-)
Never have I been as disappointed in a film
as I was after seeing this one. I saw the play at
Lincoln Center on which this movie is based
and recall thinking during the first act, “magic.”
I was referring to the staging and, in particular,
the horses constructed of wire and cloth, which
were operated by humans who brought them to
life. Steven Spielberg, director of the film, turned
the stage production into a Disney anthropomorphic
picture and a depiction of World War
I trench warfare. It was not enough to add up to
a solid war movie.
The main characters include a farming
family in England consisting of the father, Ted
(Peter Mullan), his wife, Rosie (Emily Watson),
and their teenaged son, Albert (Jeremy Irvine).
Ted, an alcoholic and stubborn man, goes to an
auction intending to buy a farm horse but foolishly
in competition with his landlord spends 30
guinea, a fortune for him, to buy a beautiful half-
Thoroughbred which Albert names Joey.
The war begins and Joey is sold to the Army
and sent off to France. Albert is heartbroken and
vows to find Joey and return him to the family
farm. Some of the trench warfare scenes are
sensational as are the beautiful panoramic views
of the English countryside but much of what
takes place, including dialogue not in the stage
production, is ridiculous.
I love horses. I’m in awe of their large strong
bodies supported by four narrow legs, their
absolutely right. Nevertheless, watching Thatcher
rise in British conservative politics and win the
position of prime minister on three occasions is a
joy to behold.
Thatcher is portrayed by Meryl Streep, who
does a brilliant job, as she always does. Thatcher’s
husband, Denis, is portrayed as a young man
by Harry Lloyd, who is a joy to behold. During
Thatcher’s retirement, Denis is played superbly as
a ghost by Jim Broadbent. (Denis died in 2003.)
Streep captures Thatcher’s voice, bearing,
imperious look and disdain for the incompetence
of people in her government. Her fellow conservatives
turned against her and forced her out of office.
At one point in the film, I got the impression that
she was failing in intellect and had lost touch with
reality. It was clear that a change in personality was
setting in by the way she crudely and insultingly
beautiful faces and eyes, and the soft, inquiring
touch of their nuzzle. I have a collection of
horse statues, mostly reproductions from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and others from
China and Portugal. Because of that feeling, my
disappointment in the film was even greater.
Many critics gave this movie a superb
review. I believe some did so simply because they
could not admit that Spielberg, who has directed
a long list of first-rate films, had failed with this
one. If you read The New York Times review, you
are led to believe that he created an extraordinary
work of art. I came away feeling that he had
destroyed a great work of art that I had seen at
Lincoln Center.
treated one of her government ministers. (Half
of the people at the age of 80 will be victims of
dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.)
I met Margaret Thatcher in 1979 when I
was mayor. She came to New York City shortly
after her first election to speak at a Foreign Policy
Association luncheon which I believe was held
at the Hilton Hotel. She sat between Governor
Hugh Carey and me before she took to the stage
to speak and answer questions, which she did
flawlessly and without notes. During the luncheon
I said to her, “I know they call you the Iron Lady.
Does that mean what I think it does?” She replied,
“It certainly does, young man.”
It is very sad that Margaret Thatcher, who
resides in England, has been touched by dementia.
But she is still the talk of the town, hers and mine.
God bless her.
Henry Stern said:
Not having seen the play, I am unable
to compare it with the movie. I liked the film,
although it was somewhat pretentious for a
horse opera. Joey, of course, is a beautiful animal.
If they had ballet for horses, he would be a star.
The human lead is as likeable as they come, and
he and Joey are devoted to each other.
Much of the movie is devoted to the horrors
of combat in World War I. I kept thinking how
much more efficient we
have become in killing
other people in the last
85 years. WWI was
essentially fought over
nothing but European
pride and alliances
which triggered armies
to march forth to kill
their cousins. It resembled
the frenzied trading
which led to the stock
market crash and the
world depression that
ensued, which in turn
led to World War II,
history’s greatest tragedy
of human behavior – so
far.
Most of the characters
in the film are good
people, taken from their
families and conscripted
into a charnel house.
As a result, it took a
generation for the male population of Europe to
catch up with the females. By then Hitler was in
power and World War II, in which entire families,
not just soldiers, were murdered at the orders
of a psychopath.
The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served as a
member of Congress from New York State from
1969 through 1977, and New York City as its 105 th
Mayor from 1978 to 1989.
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Page 16 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
RP Weschester Guard dec 22_Layout 1 12/22/11 9:06 AM Page 1
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SPORTSSCENE
Sports Scene
By MARK JEFFERS
Welcome to this edition
of “Sports Scene,” where
we take a look at the sports
action here in Westchester
County…
Let’s start off this week’s
action on the ice…Horace
Greeley’s hockey squad beat
Nyack/Tappan Zee by the final score of 5-2.
Greeley was led by Owen Gatto who had two
goals and an assist for the winners. At the Ice
Hutch in Mount Vernon, New Rochelle shutout
Byram Hills 5-0.
Exciting news for Irvington senior Brett
Pesce as he was called up to fill in on the
USA Hockey’s National Team Development
Program’s 18-U team against Minnesota State
in a 3-3 tie and against Wisconsin in a 4-3 loss.
Even though it hasn’t snowed much yet,
except for that crazy storm in October, the area
high school ski teams are gearing up to race
down the local slopes, Both Yorktown boys and
girls skiers look strong again this season. Also,
keep an eye of the team from Fox Lane...I’ll be
out there covering all the action, so, if you see me
on the bunny slopes please fly by and say hi.
In boy’s basketball, Horace Greeley scored
a win over Harrison 54-49, Brett Klein and
Harrison Brown each had fourteen points for
the winners. Rye beat Port Chester 60 to 48
with Mike D’Antoni leading all scorers with 19
including 6 for 9 from three-point range.
EYE ON THEATRE
Coming Attractions
By John Simon
My last column was a retrospect—the
best and the worst
of 2011—this week it is a prospect:
a preview of what to look
forward with intent to catch,
and what with intent to avoid. It represents, of
course, my taste, which may not totally coincide
with yours. But one must make allowances
for all criticism, which includes the pleasure of
bemoaning even a favored critic’s hobbyhorses
and blind spots.
The next thing I’ll be reviewing here is the
musical—or is it an opera?—“Porgy and Bess,”
now entitled “Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess,” which
is rather like calling something “Shakespeare’s
Hamlet” or “Shaw’s Pygmalion.” But never mind;
a rose by any name . . . you know the rest.
In a while you should also be reading about
Kevin Spacey in “Richard III,” a part that fits
him like a glove, and is Shakespeare at his most
universally popular. Later there will be a revival
Sky Williams had twenty points, five
rebounds, five steals, and four assists to lead
Tuckahoe to an 81-43 victory over Solomon
Schechter. This senior guard also scored his
1,000 th career point…with the assist from his
best friend, Tyler Freire, it was a most memorable
event.
On the girls’ side of the court, Horace
Greeley defeated Harrison 56
to 46, despite a great
game from Harrison’s
Gia Mancini who had
15 points, five assists
and five steals. Byram
Hills defeats Mahopac
55-44, Sarah Goldring
had 17 points and
Beatriz Williams had
15 points for the Byram
Hills Bobcats. Blind
Brook shot by Valhalla 43
to 20 and Kennedy scored a victory over
Putnam Valley 42 to 31.
Congratulations to Bronxville High
School’s senior running back Christian Conway
as he was named the Class C state player of
the year by the New York State Sportswriters
Association.
North Salem and John Jay both strike out
in their bowling matches against Panas and
Lakeland respectively. Total pins down for John
Jay was 733 versus 2,104 for Panas; Angela
DiRenno of Panas had the high game with a
score of 204. For Lakeland they had a total of
2,078 pins and North Salem had 1,299 total
pins. Rebecca Velasquez of Lakeland had the
high game with a score of 181. My hat goes
of one of South Africa’s finest plays by its best
playwright, Athoi Fugard, at The Roundabout
Theatre Company, with the stellar cast of Jim
Dale, Carla Gugino and Rosemary Harris.
Still later there’ll be a Fugard retrospective by
the Signature Theatre Company, in their new
building by Frank Gehry, housing three separate
stages. First on offer will be “Blood Knot,” about
two bothers, one of lighter and one of darker
skin, and the difference that makes in their lives.
Another exciting revival will be the
Manhattan Theatre Club’s “Wit,” Margaret
Edman’s rousing play about a professor of literature’s
courageous facing of terminal cancer.
Amazingly, this is not a depressing play, but a
triumphantly transporting one. Originally starring
the admirable Kathleen Chalfant, it should
be no less satisfying with Cynthia Nixon.
Quite another matter is “Carrie,” which
you may recall as a novel by Stephen King, a
movie by Brian DePalma, or a colossal stage
flop that nevertheless became legendary, partly
also through Ken Mandelbaum’s amusing book
about memorable fiascos, Not Since Carrie..
The musical has been reworked by its original
creators, and it will be interesting to see how it
off to all the bowlers, I myself have gained the
nickname twinkle toes, but I am not a graceful
bowler and certainly rely on the lane bumpers
being up!
Moving to the mats, the North Rockland
wrestling team defeated Scarsdale 53-21,
Mahopac was victorious over John Jay 54-33,
and Horace Greeley pinned Rye 43-19.
Jumping into the pool in
Rockland County…Clarkstown
continues their undefeated
season by defeating Suffern with
a 97-89 victory, Suffern was also
previously unbeaten. On the
diving board, Clarkstown’s
senior Sean Piacente
scored 317.2 points in the
six-dive format to break the
Rockland County record.
Piacente is hoping to win the
sectional title and a shot at state
championships. Way to go guys, if you
need a cannonball expert, let me know!
Turning to squash…the girls from Hackley
lost to the Chapin School 5-2.
My daughter Kate and I are going to give
squash a try this week while she is home from
college, wish me luck, and if I haven’t broken
anything I’ll see you next week.
Mark Jeffers successfully spearheaded the launch of
MAR$AR Sports & Entertainment LLC in 2008.
As president he has seen rapid growth of the company
with the signing of numerous clients. He resides in
Bedford Hills, New York, with his wife Sarah, and
three daughters, Kate, Amanda, and Claire.
does as a silk purse.
A surefire revival will be John Osborne’s
history-making play, “Look Back in Anger,”
which back in 1956 turned around British theater
into something entirely different. Reintroducing
the first Angry Young Man playwright of half a
century ago, it should speak as eloquently to and
about today’s rebels.
Among things I don’t look forward to, there
is what I consider one of the most overrated
plays in the American, if not world, theater,
Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” It will star
Philip Seymour Hoffman (who should do better
than Dustin Hoffman in a previous revival,
though probably not than Brian Dennehy more
recently) and the always reliable Linda Emond
Similarly unpromising for me is a revival of one
of Edward Albee’s least satisfying efforts, “The
Lady from Dubuque.”
I am, however, curious about “An Iliad,”
a modernization of the Homeric epic by Lisa
Paterson and Denis O’Hare, respectively good
director and gripping actor. There will also be
a new play by John Patrick Shanley, “Sleeping
Demon,” which closes the trilogy felicitously
Continued on page 17

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 17
EYE ON THEATRE
Coming Attractions
Continued from page 16
begun with “Doubt,” and leas auspiciously
continued with “Defiance.” The letter D that
presides over it can spell both delight and
disappointment.
Also coming is “The Early History of Fire,”
a new play by the gifted David Rabe, absent for
too long, and starring his daughter Lily Rabe, a
critics’ darling, though emphatically not one of
mine. A family play in revival will be Tina Howe’s
“Painting Churches,” about her somewhat eccentric
but endearing parents, the pseudonymous
Mr. and Mrs. Church. (So you need not fear
anything ecclesiastic.) Kathlleen Chalfant and
Richard Easton should do it ample justice.
Another promising revival is Paula Vogel’s
best play, “How I Learned to Drive,” discreetly
dealing with incest. This time round it will
feature Elizabeth Reaser and the incomparable
RELIGION
A Gift from Pope Benedict XVI
By ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY DOLAN
On this “Twelfth Day of
Christmas” the traditional
celebration of the Epiphany,
I have received a gift from
Pope Benedict XVI, as he
announced just a couple of hours ago at the end
of Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica that I would be
among those to become a cardinal in Rome at the
consistory of February 18 th .
Yes, I am honored, humbled, and grateful,
…but, let’s be frank: this is not about Timothy
Dolan; this is an honor from the Holy Father to
the Archdiocese of New York, and to all our cherished
friends and neighbors who call this great
For a change of pace, I
thought it would be fun
in this holiday season to
post out to the village ten
of the many questions that I, the Police
Chief, the DPW or Village Clerk hear
day to day. This will become an ongoing
feature as we share some of the pragmatic,
curious and sometimes unusual questions
we get. Thanks to Village Clerk Sue
Norbert Leo Butz, one of our finest actors. And
most appropriately for an election year, we’ll
be getting Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man,” what
we may call a backstage comedy in the theater
of political drama, brilliantly capturing the
intrigues surrounding any presidential election.
The interesting playwright Kate Fodor will
be represented by “RX,” about the antics involving
an antidepressant; the somewhat less interesting
David Adjmi will bring us”CQ/CX,” about a journalistic
scandal. Titular capitals seem definitely
in. Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen, who annoyed me
with their intimate musical “[title of play],” will
doubtless annoy me again with a new intimate
musical, “Now. Here. This.” (again cutely titled).
They are author/actors with whom I have no
desire to be intimate, although they have quite a
following with people who feel otherwise.
A number of major musicals will be revived,
notably “Evita” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” as
well as “Newsies” new to Broadway. Totally new
community home.
It’s as if Pope Benedict is putting the red hat on
top of the Empire State Building, or the Statue
of Liberty, or on home plate at Yankee Stadium;
or on the spires of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral or any
of our other parish churches; this is the successor
of Saint Peter saying to the clergy, sisters, brothers,
lay faithful of this archdiocese, and to all of our
friends and neighbors of New York: Thank you!
Keep up the good work! You are a leader, an inspiration,
to the Church and to the world.
Over the Christmas holy days I finished a
biography of President Kennedy, and recalled his
reply to someone who sincerely congratulated
GovernmentSection
MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
You Have Question; We Have Answers
By PETER SWIDERSKI
Maggiotto, Police Chief Bloomer, Ann
Scholl and Mary Ellen Healy for help on
this compilation.
1. QUESTION: Is it true that the Police
Department has a firing range in the basement
and holding cells for prisoners?
ANSWER: Yes to both.
2. QUESTION: Who made the sculpture
in front of the library?
ANSWER: Jacques Lipchitz,
will be “Ghost the Musical,” and some others.
“Once,” the Off Braodway musical based on the
cult movie, comes to Broadway, though I myself
have no use for it either on screen or on stage.
But one musical I really look forward to
is “February House,” if, that is, it can live up to
its marvelous subject. It concerns a house in
Brooklyn Heights in the 40s, no longer extant,
but then simultaneously inhabited by W. H.
Auden, Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, Peter
Pears, Gypsy Rose Lee, Richard Wright, and a
few other worthies.
Returning also is Neil Simon’s “Lost in
Yonkers,” as are works by Shakespeare (“A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Bebe
Neuwirth) and Bertolt Brecht (“Galileo,” with
F. Murray Abraham0. Also Goldoni’s immortal
farce, usually known as “A Servant of Two
Masters,” but in this London import as “One
Man, Two Guvnors.” At least they are not calling
it “Goldoni’s One Man, Two Guvnors.”
him on the honor of the presidency.
“Thanks,” John Kennedy replied, “but I don’t
look at it so much as an honor as a call to higher
service.”
My sentiments exactly. This is not about privilege,
change of colors, hats, new clothes, places of
honor, or a different title. Jesus warned us about
all that stuff.
No: this is about an affirmation of love from
the Pope to a celebrated archdiocese and community,
and a summons to its unworthy archbishop
to serve Jesus, His Church universal, His vicar on
earth, and His people better.
I’ll try to do that…but I sure need your
prayers.
Adding to our sense of joy, is the news that
another native New Yorker, my brother bishop
and good friend, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien,
until recently Archbishop
world-famous sculptor, friend of
Picasso, devotee of Modigliani,
neighbor of Brancusi, modeler of
Gertrude Stein – and a fixture at
the Center Restaurant. Lipchitz
lived in Hastings on Warburton
Avenue from 1947 until 1971 and maintained
a studio on Aqueduct Lane. He gave
the bronze sculpture, “Between Heaven
and Earth,” to Hastings in 1966.
3. QUESTION: Can I get a marriage
license in Hastings? How do I get married
in Hastings?
ANSWER: No. Villages do not issue
Continued on page 18
By this time your mouth should already be
watering, and I must stop before it becomes a
flood. The above are only a few of the plums and
less plummy others from the coming pudding,
which contains a good many more. I shall, of
course, be reviewing them in due time, and look
forward to your continued readership. Let me
also seize this opportunity to wish you a very
happy new year, not only in the theater, but also
outside it, in the world.
John Simon has written for over 50 years on theatre,
film, literature, music and fine arts for the Hudson
Review, New Leader, New Criterion, National
Review,New York Magazine, Opera News, Weekly
Standard, Broadway.com and Bloomberg News.
Mr. Simon holds a PhD from Harvard University
in Comparative Literature and has taught at MIT,
Harvard University, Bard College and Marymount
Manhattan College.
To learn more, visit the JohnSimon-Uncensored.com
of Baltimore and now the Grand Master of
the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher,
has also been elevated to the cardinalate. The
Cardinal-designate was ordained a priest for
this Archdiocese in 1965, and he is still warmly
remembered for his service here as a priest, secretary
to Cardinals Cooke and O’Connor, Rector
of Saint Joseph’s Seminary, and auxiliary bishop.
Thanks so much for your good wishes.
Timothy Dolan was installed as archbishop of New
York by the pope on April 15, 2009. The formal
announcement that the church would elevate 22 prelates
to cardinal was made by the pope during a midday
Mass at the Vatican. The newly-named cardinals will
be recognized at a consistory called in Rome on Feb.
18, 2012.
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Page 18 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
You Have Question; We Have Answers
Continued from page 17
marriage licenses, only towns and cities. The Town
of Greenburgh, Yonkers, White Plains, are New
York City are closest but you can go to the clerk’s
office in any town or city that’s convenient. To
arrange to be married in a civil ceremony, contact
the Hastings Village Court to make arrangements
with the judge, who can officiate at weddings
anywhere in the state. Or contact me and I can
perform wedding ceremonies within Hastings.
You need to have your license in hand 24 hours
prior to the marriage ceremony.
4. QUESTION: Can I get a parking permit or
sticker even if I don’t live in Hastings?
ANSWER: No, you can’t get a resident sticker,
but yes, you could get a permit for the parking
spots on the west side of the tracks (on River
Street) across from the tennis bubble. Those spots
are theoretically available for out-of-towners
(they are owned by MetroNorth, which requires
that they be made broadly available), but they
also happen to be sold out now as well. There are
THE ALBANY CORRESPONDENT
Cuomo’s Ambitious 2012 Agenda
By CARLOS GONZALEZ
ALBANY, NY -- After a first
year widely praised as both
fiscally conservative and progressive
and for tackling years of
political gridlock, Governor Andrew Cuomo
delivered his second State of the State speech last
Wednesday in front of the legislature and a sizable
crowd of 2,000.
The near hour-long speech outlined an
aggressive agenda to boost New York’s economy.
“Our challenge for 2012 is this: How does
government spur job creation in a down economy
while limiting spending and maintaining fiscal
discipline?” Cuomo said. “It all comes down to
jobs. ... That’s what people need in this state.”
The speech titled “Building a New New York
with You” includes plans for a $4 billion convention
center and hotel complex at the Aqueduct
racetrack in Queens to be built by a private developer;
a new commission to force an overhaul of
public education, including teacher evaluations; a
answers to many other
parking related questions
here [Link] http://www.
hastingsgov.org/Pages/Parking_Issues
5. QUESTION: What’s with those loud civil
defense horn blasts we frequently hear?
ANSWER: The horn, based on the Municipal
Building, will blast five times if there is a fire
alarm and three times for an ambulance call. It
is intended to call fire department volunteers to
service. All volunteers are issued radio phones
which also sound an alarm, but they aren’t always
either on the volunteer’s person or the volunteer
is in a radio dead zone. The horn is intended as a
back-up to the radio phones.
6. QUESTION: How do I get a handicappedparking
permit?
ANSWER: Get an application form from the
Village Clerk’s office or here [Link] http://www.
hastingsgov.org/Pages/HastingsNY_WebDocs/
handicapapp.pdf Have your doctor complete
it and then bring it to the Village Clerk’s office.
Both permanent (blue) and temporary (red)
permits are available.
7. QUESTION: My neighbor is using a leaf
jobs program including
a massive road and
bridge effort to include
a new Tappan Zee
Bridge; $1 billion in
incentives to lure jobs
to Buffalo; voluntary public financing of political
campaigns; mandatory DNA samples of
criminals.
“Let’s build the largest convention center in
the nation, period,” Cuomo said. “We’ll go from
No. 12 to No. 1 because that’s where we deserve
to be, the No. 1 state in the nation.”
An almost 4 million-square-foot convention
center, along with up to 3,000 hotel room
would be built on state-owned land, but paid for
by a company that already operates a casino at the
proposed location in Queens, New York.
What would be known as the Aqueduct
convention center would replace the Javits
Convention Center in Midtown West, which,
though undergoing renovation at the cost of $463
million, is considered subpar within the genre. As
part of the governor’s proposal, Javits would be
replaced by a residential and commercial development
of some sort, modeled on Battery Park City.
blower. Is that allowed?
ANSWER: Leaf blowers are permitted between
October 15th and May 15th and during the rest
pf the year if you can demonstrate that you are
physically unable to rake. Call the Village Clerk
for details.
8. QUESTION: Who makes the decision to
cancel school?
ANSWER: Typically, the decision is made by
the School Superintendent, sometimes based on
the recommendation of the Village police or fire
department depending upon their assessment of
public safety.
9. QUESTION: Why is the waterfront taking
so long to clean up?
ANSWER: In short, the site is one of the most
contaminated sites in the northeast, both on- and
off-shore, with quantities of metals and PCBs,
including forms of PCB literally not found elsewhere.
Furthermore, the contamination is hard to
get to and cannot be easily excavated or dredged
without potentially causing a collapse of part of the
waterfront. As a result, the engineering and science
involved in determining how to clean it up is
complex and unique and it has taken the NY State
Cuomo also advocated several measures to
help the poor and dispossessed such as better
access to food stamps, new offices to protect
tenants’ rights and help homeowners avoid foreclosure,
establishing a health insurance exchange
and improving care for disabled adults.
He acknowledged that some New Yorkers
need more than jobs.
“We still have, in this state, children who go
hungry,” Cuomo said, noting that one in six live in
homes without enough food. He said 30 percent
of New Yorkers eligible for food stamps, about
1.4 million people, don’t get them, leaving more
than $1 billion in federal funds unclaimed annually,
and the state should help remove barriers and
stigma and end fingerprinting as a requirement.
Cuomo also proposed making the state the
first in the country to take mandatory DNA
samples from anyone convicted of a crime,
including relatively lesser offenses.
“I will propose a bill requiring the collection
of a DNA sample from any person convicted of a
felony or Penal Law misdemeanor,” said Cuomo,
a former federal prosecutor and New York state
attorney general.
Cuomo said that applying DNA collection
Department of Environmental Conservation years
to sort out how to clean the site up. We have a plan
for the land portion and we just got a proposed plan
from the State for the off-shore portion of the site.
We can expect to see remediation begin in 2013
and take five years to complete.
10. QUESTION: What do I do with my bulk
garbage?
ANSWER: All bulk waste is picked up by
appointment only. Call 478-3400 ext. 613 or
478-2170. Everything must be brought to the curb.
Bulky non-metal waste (furniture, carpets, etc.) is
picked up on your regular garbage day. Bulky metal
waste (appliances, scraps, pipe etc.) is picked up on
Fridays. E-waste (TVs, computers) is picked up on
the first Wednesday of each month.
If you have questions you would like to see
answered in future articles of this sort, please feel
free to send them to me and I will try to ensure
they are answered in due course.
On this slightly off-beat note, Happy New
Year and all the best in 2012.
Peter Swiderski is mayor of the Village of Hastingson-Hudson.
Direct email to: mayor@hastingsgov.org.
to all criminals would both help law-enforcement
bodies fight serious crime and protect against
wrongful convictions.
Current exclusions include “numerous crimes
that are often precursors to violent offenses,” he
said.
“As a result, we are missing an important
opportunity to prevent needless suffering of
crime victims. We are also failing to use the most
powerful tool we have to exonerate the innocent,”
he said.
On education, Cuomo proposed a bipartisan
commission to address how to make schools and
teachers more accountable.
The new commission would be charged
with developing a plan this year to overhaul New
York’s education system, though Cuomo did not
provide many details in his speech. He proposed
the Legislature and his office make appointments
to the panel.
The governor also said school districts have
to be held more accountable for the money they
spend, and the state should put a managementevaluation
system in place. Some school districts
are managed well, but others are not, he said.
Continued on page 19
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The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 19
THE ALBANY CORRESPONDENT
Cuomo’s Ambitious 2012 Agenda
Continued from page 18
Cuomo also returned to a top campaign
objective by calling for voluntary public financing
of political campaigns.
If Cuomo has his way, he would also lower
the amount of top donations.
The measure was applauded by by goodgovernment
groups who cite that campaign
financing reform is key to curbing the influence
of lobbying money on state officials.
The measure aims to address Albany’s
notorious pay-to-play culture, where lobbyists
can legally press their issues with the governor
or lawmakers and then make large campaign
contributions.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who
addressed the group prior to the speech, said one
of the Assembly’s top priorities will be to raise
the minimum wage, stuck at $7.25 an hour for
years, or about $15,000 a year for full-time work.
The minimum wage in three neighboring states
ranges from $8 to $8.47. Silver also proposed
eliminating taxes for working families earning less
than $25,000.
Republican Senate leader Dean Skelos also
spoke, calling Cuomo his friend, and noted their
successful relationship last year is because many
of the Democrat’s goals were long-time goals of
Republicans. “Let’s make this session even more
productive than the last one,” Skelos said.
One day prior to the speech, Skelos stated
to the media that there’s a “good chance” the
Legislature’s upper house will be expanding, with
a redistricting committee seriously considering
the creation of a 63rd seat.
The GOP currently holds a razor-thin 32-29
majority in the Senate, with one seat currently
vacant in Brooklyn. Creating another “safe”
district for Republicans would help keep them in
the majority.
According to Republican sources, a 63rd seat
would also eliminate the possibility of a tie, which
happened during a 2009 Senate coup, in which
two Democratic lawmakers briefly sided with
Republicans, temporarily paralyzing the chamber
at 31-31 when one of the Democrats returned to
his original conference.
The move to 63 has angered Senate
Democrats and good-government groups, which
have blasted the GOP for its reluctance to hand
over redistricting duties to an independent panel.
“This confirms everyone’s worst fears and
proves that legislators are incapable of drawing
their own districts in a fair manner,” said Mike
Murphy, Senate Democratic Conference spokesperson.
“What the Senate Republicans are doing
is illegal and no reading of the State Constitution
would allow a new seat to be created. We are
witnessing the depths that the Republicans will go
to hold onto power. They are playing a dangerous
game with the state constitution and the redistricting
process. Unfortunately, the Senate GOP
has made it clear that they care more about
protecting their partisan interests than the people
of New York State.”
Despite Skelos’ suggestion on Republicans
increasing the size of government
and the Senate, Cuomo didn’t
mention the two most controversial
issues facing the Legislature: Independent
redrawing of election districts, and the regulation
of “hydrofracking” for natural gas upstate that
concerns Assembly Democrats and environmental
groups. Both, however, were part of his
written talking points.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
said after the speech that he strongly supported
Cuomo’s proposals for a new lower pension
tier for future public workers, taking DNA
samples from all convicted criminals and cutting
unfunded municipal mandates, and he agreed
New York City needs a bigger convention center
noting “Aqueduct would probably make a decent
location.”
Senator Jeffrey Klein (D-Westchester/
Bronx), who initially issued a report back in 2009
calling for an expansion of the DNA database
said, “New York has the dubious distinction of
having more than 10 percent of the country’s cold
cases, and less than 5 percent of criminal DNA
profiles in the U.S. That’s why I sponsor legislation
that would expand New York State’s DNA
Databank. I applaud Governor Cuomo for
making DNA Databank expansion a priority this
legislative session. By expanding the Databank,
we will give law enforcement one more tool to
bring criminals to justice, clear those who have
been wrongly accused, and prevent more New
Yorkers from becoming future victims of horrible
crimes.
“Much of what Gov. Cuomo laid out in
his State of the State matches the IDC’s 2012
agenda,” Klein stated. “From streamlining government
to meet 21 Century needs, to protecting our
most vulnerable citizens and providing mandate
relief to our schools and local governments, these
are the priorities that will keep New York on the
right track.”
After the State of the State address, Senator
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) delivered
the “Senate Democratic Conference’s
2012 Session Message.” The video may
be found at www.nysenate.gov/senator/
andrea-stewart-cousins.
Readers may also find Senate session
comments by going to www.nysenate.gov.
Assembly Speaker Silver’s video comments may
be viewed by visiting www.assembly.state.ny.us.
In closing, here are highlights points of Gov.
Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State Address:
– Infrastructure: A New York Works Fund
and Task Force to leverage public and private
funds to repair roads and bridges, including the
Tappan Zee Bridge.
– Energy: An “Energy Highway” system to
use excess fossil-fuel energy from western New
York downstate and tap into upstate’s potential for
renewable energy. A $2 billion plan that includes
solar power expansion.
– Hydrofracking: Not mentioned in speech,
but in briefing book to lawmakers, Cuomo says
state is reviewing comments and continuing to
study the controversial drilling practice.
– SUNY: Sixty campuses can compete for
three $20 million grants.
– Crime: A bill to require the collection of
a DNA sample from any person convicted of a
felony or penal law misdemeanor.
– Taxes: A Tax Reform and Fairness
Commission to propose changes to corporate,
sales, and personal-income tax systems.
– Campaign finance reform: Proposed public
funding of elections and lower contribution limits.
– Women’s rights: Support for Reproductive
Health Act, which protects a woman’s right to
choose.
– Pension and mandate reform: A new
pension tier for new state workers. A mandaterelief
council will hold public hearings and make
recommendations this year.
– Education: A bipartisan commission to
strengthen teacher accountability and student
achievement and bolster efficiency.
– Gambling: A constitutional amendment
to legalize non-Indian casinos, along with a $4
billion plan for the largest convention center at
Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.
– Economic development: A $1 billion
package for Buffalo and a pledge to continue
$200 of regional economic development awards.
– Independent redistricting: Not mentioned
in speech, but in briefing book Cuomo says he
would veto any lines for legislative districts not
independently drawn.
Share your thoughts with Carlos Gonzalez, The
Albany Correspondent, by directing email to carlgonz1@gmail.com.
MAYOR Marvin’s COLUMN GOVERNMENT
Issues Germane to the Season
By MARY C. MARVIN
As we begin the New Year, I
want to thank all the residents
for their volunteerism, helpful
suggestions and generous
support. Your contributions made 2011 in the
Village a successful and positive year.
In the spirit of the new year, I want to
address issues/questions that are particularly
germane to the season. The following is a
compilation thereof.
Unfortunately, January is also synonymous
with taxes. Tax payments were due due by
January 3rd without penalty. Payment after that
date incurs penalties that escalate depending
upon the payment month. Several years ago,
the Trustees and I decided to send out just one
paper bill with two payment stubs in an effort
to save staff time, paper and postage money and
ultimately taxpayer dollars. The common practice
in most municipalities is to send one yearly
bill similar to the way we pay our Eastchester
taxes. Because of the large Village tax bill, village
leaders in the past began the practice of a two
payment system. We continue to send multiple
electronic reminders via our new e-alert system
Continued on page 20

Page 20 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
MAYOR Marvin’s COLUMN
Issues Germane to the Season
Continued from page 19
and I urge you to sign up to help avoid missing
any important Village deadlines.
Some residents have wanted to pay taxes
via credit card given the benefits associated with
card usage. Appreciating the logic of this option,
we have tried to find a bank that would waive the
attendant 2 – 4% transaction costs in exchange
for our business with no success. Given the
dollar amount of most of the tax bills, neither the
homeowner nor the Village can currently absorb
the transaction fees.
January is also the month for renewal of
home alarm permits. The annual fee is $50.00
and due by January 1, 2012 with a grace period
until February 1, 2012. Residents will receive
a renewal notice only via e-alert, the cable TV
scroll and newspaper announcements. Paper
notices will be sent out only as a last resort.
All homeowners are allowed two false alarm
responses by the police before a $25.00 fee is
charged. In addition to registering alarms, other
safety precautions should be taken if extended
travel is planned. Ask neighbors to park in your
GOVERNMENT
driveway and have a friend pick up
items such as Pennysavers and phone
books that cannot be cancelled by
calling the Post Office or the provider.
Should the snow fall in the coming months,
and from a budgetary, not a beauty perspective, I
pray not, regulations are triggered to provide for
safe sidewalk passage.
In the Village’s business district, sidewalks
must be cleared of ice and snow by 9AM and
4PM of each day whether or not the snow is still
falling. On residential streets, snow and ice must
be removed within 12 hours of the cessation of
snowfall. As a reminder, sidewalk maintenance
and repair, irrespective of the season, is the
responsibility of the homeowner or landlord.
During snowy weather, residents often ask
us to clear paths or “shortcuts” that have been
carved out of hillsides or alleyways. We cannot
maintain these areas, however well used, because
our maintenance would condone the use of
paths that are neither sidewalks nor safe passage.
The holiday season also brought an increase
in door-to-door solicitations. Individuals selling
goods cannot do so legally without first receiving
a permit from the Village. Do not hesitate to call
CURRENT COMMENTARY
Republicans Limp Out of the Gate
By LARRY M. ELKIN
I hate to rain on somebody’s
parade, especially somebody I’ll
probably support in November,
but Republicans do not have
much to crow about as they
emerge from yesterday’s Iowa caucuses.
Granted, the process has already winnowed
two uninspiring candidates, Tim Pawlenty and
Herman Cain, from the field vying to challenge
President Obama. This leaves Mitt Romney, who
can feel pretty good about his prospects as he
heads into next week’s New Hampshire primary,
and six other hopefuls who all lack the money and
organization to stay with Romney through the
primary marathon to come.
For Republicans who really care about
unseating Obama, Romney is not a bad choice,
even if he lacks the raw appeal of charismatic (but
unvetted) non-candidates like governors Chris
Christie of New Jersey or Mitch Daniels of Indiana.
A former Massachusetts governor, Romney can
put Northeastern states like Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and Pennsylvania in play. This should
force Obama to play defense on what should be
his strongest turf, and should drain his resources
from battleground states like Florida, Ohio and
Wisconsin, which the president must carry to
have any realistic chance of being re-elected.
Many Republicans feel confident about their
chances in November. I agree that the Electoral
College map is stacked against the incumbent
and should give him an uphill fight this year. But
Obama has an ace in the hole that could level the
playing field, allowing voters to forget his colossally
wasteful spending, terrible economic record
and nasty rhetoric.
Obama’s secret weapon is the Republicans’
own determination to shoot themselves in the
foot on two of the biggest issues of the campaign:
taxes and health care reform.
There are many valid reasons to attack the
Affordable Care Act that Obama and fellow
Democrats rammed into law in 2010. It will
drive up costs that are already out of control by
increasing demand for care without making
care more abundant or efficient. It will ruin
the economic foundation of health insurance
by allowing millions of people to pay relatively
insignificant penalties while they wait until they
get sick before purchasing insurance. It will
discourage businesses from hiring U.S. workers,
who must either receive health coverage or trigger
penalties against the employers. The bill will raise
taxes to pay for the substantial new subsidies for
low- and middle-income insurance buyers, who
will be sicker than average because, again, they
won’t need to buy coverage while they are still
healthy since insurers will be required to accept all
applicants.
All of these arguments are winners for GOP
candidates. But do they make these arguments?
Nope. Instead, they twist themselves into verbal
knots to attack one of the law’s more logical
requirements – that all Americans who can afford
to do so either buy health insurance or pay a
penalty.
the police department if the salesperson cannot
produce their permit. Upon investigation, the
police have found that some of the charities that
were purported to benefit from our purchases
were non-existent. The First Amendment
does protect all those “selling” an idea or cause
so groups such as the Jehovah Witnesses or
Greenpeace do not need permission to ring
your bell. To limit this kind of visit, a small “No
Solicitation” sign near the front door has proven
effective.
As a reminder, Village Hall issues birth and
death certificates, but pet licenses are now issued
by the Town of Eastchester at Town Hall at 40
Mill Road. Only children born at Lawrence
Hospital can receive birth certificates at Village
Hall. Residents born in New York City can
apply for certificates at www.nyhealth.gov/
vital_records.
Many residents have inquired as to Village
rules governing the hours of operation for
construction companies working in the Village.
Home improvement work that requires a
building permit can only occur on weekdays
between 8AM and 6PM. Work not requiring
a permit such as house painting or lawn care
Romney is worst-suited of the candidates
to take this position because, as Massachusetts
governor, he supported and signed a state law
with the same provision. Erstwhile top challenger
Newt Gingrich is running away from his record
as a supporter of Romney’s Massachusetts law.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum was out of Congress
when the federal law was passed, but Santorum’s
stock in trade is arguing that the government
should be telling Americans how to behave in all
manner of private affairs, because that’s what his
religious beliefs call for. Rep. Michele Bachmann
and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have the same
problem. Jon Huntsman’s problem is that nobody
in his own party really cares what he thinks about
this issue or any other, even though he is, to my
mind, the most thoughtful candidate in the field.
(For the record, Huntsman has attacked Romney
for introducing a forerunner to “Obamacare,” as
Republicans like to call it.) Only Sen. Ron Paul,
who apparently doesn’t believe the government
should ever tell anyone to do anything, possibly
including stopping at red lights, comes to his
position against the dreaded health insurance
mandate with clean intellectual hands.
But the Republican faithful, the rank-andfile
foot soldiers of the party, have somehow
persuaded themselves that the big problem with
the Obama health reform is the mandate. Are
they correct that Congress lacks constitutional
authority to make everyone buy health insurance?
We may find out sometime in the next six months,
since the Supreme Court has taken up the matter.
But there are almost certainly four solid votes on
the Court’s liberal wing to uphold the law. This
means, at best, opponents can hope for a narrow
majority in their favor. A 5-4 ruling to strike down
the statute won’t necessarily persuade swing voters
may be done on weekends. However, any work
producing a great deal of noise may be in violation
of the Village noise ordinance, whether done
with or without requiring a building permit.
Finally, two of our most recent initiatives
undertaken late in the year, have proven quite
successful. Our police officers on foot patrol
detail were received so positively by merchants
and residents alike. Not only did the officers
make new connections with residents, they were
also on hand to issue tickets to drivers crossing
the double yellow line on Pondfield Road, a
source of frustration to every patient and law
abiding parker in the Village.
Thanks to the Green Committee’s “Leave
the Leaves” initiative, we never picked up a single
leaf on Village Hall property, rather mulching
them in place. Not only did we save time and
money, but the lawn has never looked better.
I wish you all a new year full of promise,
health, family, laughter and kindness.
Mary C. Marvin is the mayor of the Village of
Bronxville, New York. If you have a suggestion or
comment, consider directing your perspective by
email to: mayor@vobny.com.
in the presidential race that Obama was wrong,
and anything less is going to be seen as a victory
for the president and, in effect, an endorsement of
the law and its terrible policy choices.
If they want to win in November, Republicans
need to recognize that their challenge is not to
motivate hard-core GOP voters, who will oppose
Obama no matter what. Their task is to persuade
independent voters to show up and vote for new
leadership. They won’t do that with arguments
that ring false because the candidates making
those arguments have taken opposite positions in
the past, only to swing with the political fashion
of their party.
Republicans did pretty well on taxes through
most of 2011, only to fall apart with the lastminute
two-month extension of the president’s
Social Security tax cut. The president broke the
myth of the Social Security trust fund. To serve
his own political interests, he is draining hundreds
of billions of dollars from the program, and, in the
process, making the retirees who are an important
part of his own political base extremely nervous.
By the time Obama is done milking the FICA
cash cow, the program will be reduced politically
to what it always has been actuarially: a cashtransfer
welfare program.
Republicans ought to let him go right ahead
and do this. If he asks for a 2-percentage-point cut
in FICA taxes, Republicans ought to offer him 3
points, or 4, and extend it to employers as well as
employees. Will this drive up the deficit? You bet,
but Republicans can immediately counter with
offsetting spending cuts. If you want more Social
Security, you get less defense, or environmental
protection, or antitrust enforcement.
The bottom line of this exercise would be to
Continued on page 21

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 21
CURRENT COMMENTARY
Republicans Limp Out of the Gate
Continued from page 20
make it crystal clear that the Treasury does not
have a magic fountain of money, unless you count
foreigners’ willingness to keep lending trillions as
our national debt mounts to monstrous levels, or
unless you assume the Federal Reserve will ultimately
print the cash to make all this debt go
away, along with what’s left of the dollar’s value.
Obama would not turn us into the next Greece,
which is too small to really matter in the scheme
of things. He would turn us into the next Italy,
on steroids, with a debt big enough
to bring the whole financial world
crashing down and a character small
enough to actually do it.
If presented with this option, voters will
probably choose to leave a financially viable nation
to their grandchildren instead.
But Senate Republicans decided their
Christmas vacation was the top priority, so they
helped pass the Democrats’ two-month extension,
and overshadowed the House’s earlier vote for a
full-year continuation of the FICA tax cut, which
the House paid for with cuts the Democrats did
not want to accept. Thus, Republicans got on the
wrong side of an issue that should have been their
strong suit. Now we have to watch as they struggle
to wrest control of the Social Security tax debate
back from Obama and his party. It won’t be pretty.
A few Republican candidates will tell us how
well they did in Iowa last night. Don’t believe it.
Unless they stop shooting themselves in the foot,
no Republican candidate is going to run a particularly
good race this year.
Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®, president of Palisades
GOVERNMENT
Independent Democratic Conference Releases 2012 Legislative Agenda
NEW YORK, NY - The Independent
Democratic Conference released its 2012
legislative agenda Thursday aimed at strengthening
New York’s economy, improving the lives
of New York residents, and preserving New
York’s progressive tradition.
The agenda was released on the anniversary
of the IDC’s formation and after a
successful year that saw many of the conference’s
2011 priorities made into law.
“We put progress over partisanship last
year and because of it, New
York shined,” said Senator Jeffrey D.
Klein, (D-Bronx/ Westchester.)
“The Independent Democratic
Conference is committed to keeping this
momentum going by focusing our 2012
agenda on issues that matter most to New
Yorkers. By working to improve the lives of all
New Yorkers, we continue to move this state
forward.”
The IDC’s 2012 agenda includes:
- Cutting Red Tape, Allowing Small
Business to Thrive & Helping our Economy
Grow
- Improving Upon the Toughest Anti-
Foreclosure Laws in the Country
- Identifying Government Waste and
Creating Government Efficiency
- Standing Up for Our Most Vulnerable
Populations
- Delivering Mandate Relief for Local
School Districts and Municipalities:
- Protecting Reproductive Rights in New
York
Continued on page 22
Hudson Financial Group a fee-only financial planning
firm headquartered in Scarsdale, NY. The firm
offers estate planning, insurance consulting, trust
planning, cross-border planning, business valuation,
family office and business management, executive
financial planning, and tax services. Its sister firm,
Palisades Hudson Asset Management, is an independent
investment advisor with about $950 million
under management. Branch offices are in Atlanta and
Ft. Lauderdale.
Website: www.palisadeshudson.com.

Page 22 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
GOVERNMENT
Independent Democratic Conference Releases 2012 Legislative Agenda
Continued from page 21
- Strengthening New York’s Agricultural
Economy
- Combating the Rise of Prescription Drug
Abuse
We’re looking to help those who need it
most. We want to help small businesses , local
governments, and schools lower costs and lower
taxes. In short: We want to help New York,”
INVESTIGATION
As a result of the 2011 New
Rochelle elections, the future
of the city is now in the hands
of five Democrats and two
Republicans. What does this
mean for New Rochelleans?
The two political parties espoused emphasis
over disparate issues during their separate and
respective inaugural ceremonies on January
1, 2012, at City Hall. Republicans installed
their two re-elected councilmen first. Later
that afternoon, the Democrats followed with
a re-elected mayor and four councilmembers,
said Senator David Carlucci, (D-Rockland/
Orange). “We accomplished a lot last year, but
there’s more work to do.”
In its inaugural year, the Independent
Democratic Conference, Senators Klein,
Carlucci, Diane Savino, (D-Staten Island/
Brooklyn), and David J. Valesky, (D-Oneida),
passed 68 bills, 32 of which became law and
issued 21 legislative reports detailing how to
two of who were re-elected. Their philosophy
and the direction the city should take emerged
as each member of this new council made their
acceptance speech.
The Chairman of the New Rochelle
Republican Party, Doug Colety, set the tone for
his party’s installation by divulging that both
re-elected Councilmen Al Tarantino, D. 1, and
Lou Trangucci, D. 2, would continue their fight
for the taxpayers that both initiated in their first
first term in office. Both “Al and Lou bring real
world and business experience to the Council,”
said Colety. He then thanked Councilman
save more than $1 billion, reform Albany, and
improve the lives of New Yorkers. Additionally,
IDC legislative priorities, including the implementation
of a property tax cap, marriage
equality, ethics and MTA tax reform, were made
law.
“This is year two of the Empire State restoration
project,” Senator Savino said. “As we work
to rebuild our economy, we must also make sure
Stamford Fire, Blazing Lesson for Rye Mayor French and other Officials
By RAY TARTAGLIONE
With the recent tragic loss of
five lives in a roaring Christmas
Day house fire in Stamford,
CT, anyone sane might question the wisdom of
allowing an illegally converted residential attic to
serve as a bedroom with no fire escape, sprinklers
or egress sized windows.
But if you are the Mayor of The City of Rye
New York, jeopardizing the lives of rental property
tenants (and potentially firefighters) is apparently
no big deal - since records indicate that the Mayor
himself secretly made just such an illegal attic
conversion over a decade ago - and then rented
out the house to the general public, taking in
over $50,000 a year with this new attic bedroom
featured as a benefit according to MLS records.
And, to add insult to injury, apparently since
its Mayor Douglas French’s own rental house
that has now come under the spotlight, senior
Rye City officials have stepped up sharply to his
defense by denying that this structure has any
violations of state or local building or fire codes
at all.
Yet a newly released local investigative documentary
film, viewable on YouTube.com, about
Mayor French’s investment property entitled
“13 Richard Place” lays out an entirely different
view of the matter - along with much evidence
of apparent municipal code wrongdoing by the
Mayor. In the film, Rye City Manager Scott
Pickup and Rye City Corporation Council
Kristen Wilson are seen publicly and repeatedly
claiming that the Mayor’s rental property at 13
Richard Place has no official notice of violations
of local and state building codes.
However as film viewers can see, Jordan
Glass an attorney for Heal the Harbor.com,
addressed The Rye City Council at a regularly
scheduled council meeting on October 18 th ,
2011, and made the following revelations about
Mayor French’s rental / investment property
located at 13 Richard Place.
“It has a bedroom completed and advertised
on the 3 rd floor attic, although there is no
fire escape as required by local and state law.
The City of Rye has been deprived of a house
in compliance with its code placing residents
of Rye, presumably including children since it
is advertised as a 4-bedroom house, in unnecessary
and reckless peril. This 2 family house
was illegally converted to a 1 family house with
construction and permitting codes for fire, safety,
electrical, gas, plumbing and water all violated,
flouted and ignored.”
In the months after the October 18 th council
meeting, the City of Rye has taken no official
action to stop the rental of this illegal home to
the public nor has it brought any fines or sanctions
on Mayor French for his past illegal and
secret construction practices.
And while the senior public officials in Rye
continue to deny that there are any building or
fire code violations at 13 Richard Place, Mayor
French was subsequently forced to publicly
acknowledge that he “might” have erroneously
taken an illegal STAR tax exemption (valued at
over $10,000) on the rental property for over 10
years - and has asked the Rye City Tax Assessor
to investigate the situation and report about it to
him and the city council.
In the meantime, as we now all know, the
horrific Christmas Day fire that claimed the
lives of 5 people, 3 of them small children, in
nearby Stamford specifically included a 3 rd floor
bedroom for the children that played a critical
and fatal role in the tragedy. And, as of this
writing, the Stamford Building Department
is investigating if the house was even legal for
GOVERNMENT
A New Council and the Possibility for a New Direction for New Rochelle
By PEGGY GODFREY
Richard St. Paul for his service.
After being sworn in by New York
State Supreme Court Justice Ken Rudolph,
Trangucci thanked his supporters, and especially
his wife, Theresa, calling her “the best
campaign manager anyone can have.” He said
he would continue to be a strong advocate for
quality of life issues. Trangucci cited the courage
and contribution of employee Pat Pappalardi
for making a difference by his observations
leading to the indictment of a city employee.
Trangucci blamed the major financial difficulties
of the city on the lack of results of the
that our rights remain protected and our most
vulnerable don’t fall through the cracks.”
“The only way we can move forward is by
building upon our strengths,” Senator Valesky
said. “With this agenda to help our farms, our
small business owners and our residents, the
IDC is focusing on what makes this state great
and what we believe is needed to keep New York
on the right track.”
occupancy given it’s under reconstruction
status.
The Stamford Advocate quotes
Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia as
saying - “Our heart goes out for the
family, friends of these people, as
well as the firefighters and emergency medical
people, police department and all that were on
the scene and are, frankly, suffering as a result.
Our heart goes out to them and we hope they
find peace soon. It’s Christmas Day. There probably
has not been a worse Christmas Day in the
City of Stamford.”
So is Rye’s Mayor French - along with Rye
City Manager Pickup and Rye City Attorney
Wilson - even interested in public safety? Or
was just another alleged Rye City cover-up
exposed - and the usual public relations damage
control is now underway?
To view the new documentary go to
YOUTUBE.com and insert “13 Richard
Place” in the search feature or just copy
and paste (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=W6nWzVM99R8) in your browser.
To the collection of public documents about
Mayor French’s Secret Illegal Rental Property go
to HEALtheHARBOR.com or copy and paste
(http://www.healtheharbor.com/happenings.
shtml) in your browser.
Ray Tartaglione is executive director of
HEALtheHARBOR.com
strategies followed by the administrations of
the last 15 years. It is Trangucci perspective
that New Rochelle cannot continue to increase
in population and still reduce services because
all residents suffer. Acknowledging the large
Latino population in his district, Trangucci
assured them they will be supported and their
concerns would be addressed at his association
meetings.
After County Legislator James Maisano
administered the oath of office to Councilman
Tarantino, Tarantino recounted how the years
Continued on page 23

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 23
GOVERNMENT
A New Council and the Possibility for a New
Direction for New Rochelle
Continued from page 22
he has lived in New Rochelle had undergone
“monumental changes.” He was grateful for
his parents’ strong values and the support
given him by his wife and six children. While
the landscape of New Rochelle had changed,
he feels we need to ensure “more than the
skyline will be enhanced.” His view was that
no concern was too “trivial” to be entertained.
He reinforced his concept with a reference to
a question he had asked voters at a large gathering
in previous campaigns, that is, “Did they
think their quality of life had improved?” but he
said “no hands went up.”
Later that afternoon, the Democrats held
their Inauguration Ceremony. Their host,
Westchester County Clerk and former Mayor
Tim Idoni, was also Master of Ceremonies. He
noted January 1st was a new beginning for New
Rochelle. Outgoing Councilwoman Marianne
Sussman said she was hopeful for the future of
the city and announced the names of all the
dignitaries in the audience as had Colety similarly
done at the Republican installation.
Mayor Noam Bramson was administered
the oath of office by Judge John Colangelo. In
the acceptance speech that followed, Bramson
said it was a day of new beginnings and that he
was extending his hand to both parties. Mass
transit, the appeal of the shoreline, and greener
practices are the focus for the future. He noted
the hardest choices can produce the greatest
rewards, reinforcing the best days of New
Rochelle are “still to come.”
Senior Councilman Barry Fertel, D. 5, was
administered the oath of office by City Judge
Susan Kettner. Fertel stated New Rochelle was
a city of diversity “with it own Space Shot.”
Residents have expressed dissatisfaction to him
OSSINING, NY -- A retirement brunch for
Westchester County Legislator William Burton
will be held on Sunday, January 22, from 10 am
to 12 Noon at the Atria, 321 North Highland
Avenue (Route 9) in Ossining. Legislator
Burton served the 9 th Legislative District on the
Westchester County Board of Legislators for six
years.
The brunch is open to the public with a cost
of $50 per person, which includes a special gift.
Checks should be made payable to Richard
Wishnie/Burton Party and mailed to Richard
Wishnie, 47 Briarbrook Drive, Briarcliff Manor,
NY 10510. For questions about the event please
call 914-953-8297.
about the city’s budget. Thoughtful choices he
said will have to be made in the future; such
as, “Do we make the necessary capital improvements?”
He felt transit orientation was not
the city’s salvation but it could move the City
forward.
Shari Rackman, Councilwoman D. 6,
after being given the oath of office by Stephen
Jerome, a principal of Monroe College, said
“she had lived in New Rochelle since she was
a teen-ager. She was “thrilled” with the small
neighborhoods, which created a “beautiful
mosaic” in the city. She urged residents to take
advantage of the whole city. She said, downtown
was a “city-wide” priority. The tax base,
she thought, needed to be strengthened.
Councilman Jared Rice’s Mother, Judge
Gail Rice, administered his oath of office.
Acknowledging the help of his campaign
committee, his family, wife and parents, brother
and daughter, he said he was committed to this
“journey.” He cited his input for the new district
lines and his Beautification Day, and said he
was looking forward to the changes for Hartley
House. Ivar Hyden, Councilman D.4, was the
last one to be administered the oath of office
by Zoning Board Chairman Richard Sosis.
After he acknowledged support of his wife
Diane, he thought the city would be brighter
with a new council, adding, “The Ivar you know
is the Ivar you will get.” Hyden said he was
looking forward to bringing new ideas and new
approaches to city government. He promised
he “will take the city in a new direction.”
Only time will tell how these differences in
approach will allow the city to move forward.
Peggy Godfrey is a freelance writer and a former
educator.
Retirement Brunch For Westchester County
Legislator William Burton

Page 24 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
GOVERNMENT
Why I Voted Against the 2012 Town of Ossining Budget
By PETER TRIPODI IV
There are serious financial issues
with the 2012 operating budget
for the Town of Ossining, and
there is also a larger “meta”
concept of kicking the can down
the road.
The Town of Ossining has numerous
accountability issues. The first of these is the
former tenant/theater company at Cedar Lane
Park. This tenant of the Town owes $17,000.00
for 2010 rental arrears to the taxpayers of the
Town of Ossining. I have been the only official
that has demanded the Town sue and collect the
money owed from this former tenant. However,
my colleagues have wavered on the issue of suing
this tenant. In fact, every time the issue is raised
my colleagues claim “something” still needs to be
worked out before we proceed. But, as you can
guess, we never do proceed. In reality, that is an
excuse for the lack of leadership in the Town of
Ossining, which has forced the taxpayers to eat a
$17,000.00 loss. If this were not enough, earlier
last year the former Supervisor unilaterally let the
tenant that owes the money, come back to the
Town’s property and retrieve their belongings!
Some of these items included expensive theater
lights and stage equipment - equipment that
could have been taken and sold to pay taxpayers
back for the money owed to them.
In addition to not making any real effort
towards retrieving that money owed to the
taxpayers of the Town of Ossining, there has also
been a promised inventory of the Town’s assets.
This was in direct response to the loss of $5,000.00
of Town-owned scrap metal. This metal and the
money it could have generated have still not been
recovered. Safe to say the inventory has not been
done either.
The Mid-Hudson Ambulance Tax District
needs fine tuning before I will approve any
budget for the district. Serious personnel issues
have been brought to the attention of Town
officials numerous times yet the Town has never
met with OVAC leadership to discuss these
issues. This again is a complete lack of leadership
and ignoring of serious problems. In addition,
The Mid-Hudson Ambulance Tax District
has repeatedly violated New York State’s Open
Meeting Law Section 104- Public Notice of
Meetings. Even fellow elected officials are not
notified of when or where they meet and these
meetings are also not filmed.
Other irresponsible and blatant abuse of
taxpayer funds is the following: The Town-owned
police station (which costs taxpayers roughly
$350,000.00 annually) still remains Town owned
and County police used. The County pays nothing
for the use of the facility while using it for countywide
services. In addition, Ossining taxpayers pay
for electricity, copy machine costs, internet, phone
service, bottled water, and numerous other services
that the County utilizes for free. Effectively, the
2012 budget continues the practice of using
Ossining taxpayers to foot the bill for services
all Westchester County residents benefit from.
This was an often-discussed campaign issue and
the taxpayers were promised that something was
going to be done. As yet there has been no move
to do that, however, with a new board I do remain
optimistic about this issue.
The Town of Ossining pays the Village of
Ossining $359,000.00 for payroll, accounting, and
data services. The Town of Ossining has a roughly
$13 million budget (this includes all budgets,
funds, and tax districts). The Town of Ossining
has approximately 50 employees. The Village of
Briarcliff Manor has a budget of roughly $19
million and employs about 70 employees. The
finance department of the Village of Briarcliff
Manor performs the same services of payroll,
accounting, data services, in addition to water and
tax bill collection. The total spending of their treasurer’s
department for these services is roughly
$264,000.00. This amount is far less than what the
Town of Ossining pays the Village of Ossining
for fewer services and for fewer employees. Is that
a fiscally responsible contract?
Court Consolidation is another area in
which cost savings was touted but never realized.
In fact, a letter from the Deputy State
Comptroller stated Court Consolidation was
a $460,000.00 increase in new spending for the
Town of Ossining. The Village of Ossining’s tax
cap limit was then lowered from 2% to 1.4%
because of Court Consolidation. In short, Court
Consolidation cost the Town more money, the
Village of Ossining was penalized, and no one
saved any money. But the nonsense we hear in our
taxpayer funded mailers is quite the opposite and
more accurately…wrong.
To conclude, please don’t believe the political
hyperbole. We have constantly heard about how
great the Town of Ossining’s finances are, but
were you ever told Moody’s lowered the Town of
Ossining’s bond rating in August 2010 from Aa2
to Aa3? No one has ever mentioned this downgrade
in any financial report or otherwise. The
Village of Briarcliff Manor, both Ossining and
Briarcliff School Districts, and even surrounding
municipalities such as Croton on Hudson and
Cortlandt Manor have Aa2 bond ratings. Even
the Village of Ossining has a Aa2 bond rating, but
the Town of Ossining was lowered because, “The
downgrade reflects the town’s limited financial
flexibility following a trend of operating deficits,
resulting in a narrow undesignated Operating
Fund balance and limited financial flexibility.”
(Moody’s, August 2010)
Peter Tripodi IV is Ossining Town Councilman.
Learn more about him at www.PeterTripodi.
Com. Direct email to electpete@gmail.com, or call
(914) 774-0373.
OP EDSection
WEIR ONLY HUMAN
This is Democracy at Work!
By BOB WEIR
There’s more than a bit of irony
in the recent consumer uproar
over a proposed $2 “convenience
fee” by Verizon Wireless that
was planned to go into effect on January 15.
The company, the largest U.S. mobile carrier,
wanted to charge the $2 fee for bills paid online
or by phone. But, after a mere 24-hour period
and thousands of emails and phone calls from
outraged customers, Verizon succumbed to the
backlash and canceled the new policy. The irony
comes from the fact that Verizon is a leader in the
communications industry, and consumer access
to that industry, in the form of active and conscientious
users, was enough to force the company
to back off. In addition, the controversy came to
the attention of the Federal Communications
Commission, which has now decided to investigate.
The New Jersey based company said they
wanted the fee for users who
make single bill payments on
a month-to-month basis by
phone or online.
Faster than you can say,
“predatory practices,” customers began criticizing
Verizon on Twitter and Web forums, with
some setting up online petitions and calling for
consumers to boycott the carrier. That’s when
the FCC got involved, saying it was “concerned”
about the plan and would make an official
inquiry. Before the communication revolution,
companies were able to arbitrarily impose fees
and other unpopular policies with impunity.
Not anymore! These days, there are myriad
ways to combat the inequity large corporations
once held over the lone individual. In a matter
of hours, hundreds of thousands of people can
be mobilized to criticize and send a message
to an overbearing company that they will lose
their customer base if they don’t capitulate. It’s
possible, but highly unlikely, that this consumer
victory could have happened so quickly a generation
ago, if in fact it could have happened at all.
In this case, Verizon Wireless customers started
more than 35 petitions against the fee on a web
site known as Change.org. One petition was
signed by more than 95,000 people within hours.
As more people become involved with
their laptops, iphones, ipads, etc., a larger, more
powerful and more involved form of body politic
will emerge. It was only about a month ago that
a consumer backlash led to Bank of America
Corp. canceling a $5-per-month fee for debit
card users. In that case, too, consumers used
online campaigns to pressure the company. One
manager at a consumer rights organization said
people power has never been more formidable
because the average person no longer feels that
fighting back against corporate giants is a waste
of time. It’s really just a numbers game. In the
past, when a company decided to raise their
prices, change their products, or institute other
policy changes that might adversely affect their
customers, they might receive some phone calls
to the home office, but not enough to make
them submit to the pressure. If the John Smith
and Jane Doe of 25-years ago lived in the same
neighborhood and were upset by a price increase
in a product or service, they might talk to each
other at a social gathering and each write a letter
to the company the next day. The company,
although expecting some dissatisfaction from
customers, would probably relegate the scant few
complaints to the circular file.
Thanks to mass communication, disgruntled
citizens can write a letter, click an icon and round
up a huge posse, via cyberspace, which will come
to their defense and bring those would-be violators
of the public trust to justice. Moreover, social
networking sites like “Facebook” have changed
the opinion-making dynamic of global communications.
Opinions may be like bellybuttons in
that everybody has one; however, the inveterate
FB user may be exposed to hundreds of opinions
daily, which is very likely to have a profound
influence on his own. The Internet, which began
as merely a point-to-point communication
between mainframe computers and terminals,
has become one of the most significant examples
of democracy in action.
Continued on page 25

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 25
WEIR ONLY HUMAN
This is Democracy at Work!
Continued from page 24
The voice of the people, which hitherto,
could only be heard on Election Day or when
letters to editors were published in newsprint,
has blossomed to the level of a mountain-sized
megaphone. Citizens can affect the way their
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Mr.
Aris:
The City of New
Rochelle is again
entertaining the idea
of developing Echo
Bay. In my opinion
development of this property would forever
remove it as a recreational area. It would also
jeopardize the surrounding area which abuts this
site being considered for development.
I frequently go to both Five Islands Park
and Davenport Park during the Spring, Summer
and Fall months. Five Islands Park is enjoyed by
ZYGGE HANDYMAN, LLC Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
10/20/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process
Corporation Service Company 80
State St. Albany, NY 12207. Purpose:
Any lawful activity. Registered
Agent: Corporation Service Company
80 State St. Albany, NY 12207
SAGES LLC Articles of Org. filed NY
Sec. of State (SSNY) 10/19/2011.
Office in Westchester Co. SSNY
design. Agent of LLC upon whom
process may be served. SSNY shall
mail copy of process The LLC 152
Mildred Pkwy. New Rochelle, NY
10804. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Formation 
USA 2 LLC Arts.
of Org. filed with SSNY 12/13/2011.
Off. Loc.: Westchester Cnty. SSNY
designated as agent of LLC whom
process may be served. SSNY shall
mail process to: c/o The LLC, 457
Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, NY
10605. Purpose: all lawful activities.
GEORGIO FAMILY III LLC Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
12/5/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process C/O
Patricia G. Micek, Esq. 2180 Boston
Post Rd. Larchmont, NY 10538. Purpose:
Any lawful activity.
THE FARM FOODIE, LLC Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
11/28/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process C/O
city, state, or federal government serves,
or disserves them. Undoubtedly, there are
bureaucrats in Washington who are actively
seeking ways to insinuate a tax on emails, blogs,
and other forms of electronic communications.
The fact that they haven’t already done so is
indicative of the massive influence the public
has on any politician that would dare support
many. They have picnics, a playground for children
and a place for wedding parties. At times
it is so crowded that individuals like myself can’t
get in. We need more areas like this in order to
provide a healthy, wholesome area for our people
who struggle all week to earn a living.
We don’t need department stores or restaurants.
The problem with the City is that it can
only think in a narrow-minded fashion. By
expanding our waterfront for recreation we will
do a good thing for our people and also increase
revenue at the same time since these same people
will also patronize the local businesses.
Sincerely,
George Imburgia
New Rochelle, New York
LEGAL NOTICES
Stern Keiser & Panken, LLP 1025
Westchester Ave. Ste. 305 White
Plains, NY 10604. Purpose: Any lawful
activity.
B8 ENTERPRISE LLC Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
12/7/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process
Justin Jaikaran 9 Holly St. Yonkers,
NY 10704. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
such legislation. Let’s hope we can stay one step
ahead of those bean-counters who would, once
again, use the power to tax as a way to limit our
freedom.
Bob Weir is a veteran of 20 years with the New York
Police Dept. (NYPD), ten of which were performed
in plainclothes undercover assign- ments. Bob began
The Folly of God-denial
By MATT BARBER
As the political season heats
up it occurs to me that, as
important as elections are,
unless the hearts of men are
changed, the heart of a nation
cannot awaken. Our nation is
experiencing heart failure. It needs an awakening
– a spiritual awakening. Desperately.
Every year secular-“progressives” and
obnoxious atheist pressure groups exponentially
ramp up demands that all traces of Christianity
be purged from the public sphere; particularly
at Christmas time. This is like demanding the
SIGNATURE PUBLIC RELATIONS,
LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec.
of State (SSNY) 10/27/2011. Office
in Westchester Co. SSNY design.
Agent of LLC upon whom process
may be served. SSNY shall mail
copy of process C/O Randal B.
Hayes 101 Ellwood Ave. 1E Mt. Vernon,
NY 10552. Purpose: Any lawful
activity.
LIGHTCHARTS LLC Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
12/20/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process C/O
Patricia G. Micek, Esq. 2180 Boston
Post Rd. Larchmont, NY 10538. Purpose:
Any lawful activity.
ALBERT E. ALEXANDER FAMILY
LIMITED PARTNERSHIP Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
12/1/2011. Office in Westchester Co.
SSNY design. Agent of LP upon whom
process may be served. SSNY shall
mail copy of process C/O Stern, Keiser
& Panken, LLP 1025 Westchester Ave.
Ste. 305 White Plains, NY 10604. Purpose:
Any lawful activity.
QUICK CASH OF PEEKSKILL LLC Articles
of Org. filed NY Sec. of State
(SSNY) 12/21/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent
of LLC upon whom process may be
served. SSNY shall mail copy of process
The LLC 2712 E. Tremont Ave.
Bronx, NY 10461. Purpose: Any lawful
activity.
a writing career about 12 years ago and had his first
book published in 1999. Bob went on to write and
publish a total of seven novels, “Murder in Black
and White,” “City to Die For,” “Powers that Be,”
“Ruthie’s Kids,” “Deadly to Love,” “Short Stories of
Life and Death,” and “Out of Sight.” He also became
a syndicated columnist under the title “Weir Only
Human.”
abolition of penicillin during an outbreak
of Typhoid Fever.
I’ve never quite understood this.
Scripture admonishes: “The fool has said
in his heart ‘there is no God.’” Secularists
need to relax. They already have their own
holiday: April First.
Albert Einstein, who is often falsely characterized
as having been an atheist, once said
of non-believers: “The fanatical atheists are
like slaves who are still feeling the weight of
their chains which they have thrown off after
hard struggle. They are creatures who – in their
grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium
of the masses’ – cannot hear the music of the
spheres.”
Indeed, Psalm 19:1 observes: “The heavens
Continued on page 26
2 column
HARLEM LINE MEDIA, LLC Articles
of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
11/14/2011. Office in Westchester
Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process
Corporation Service Company 80
State St Albany, NY 12207. Purpose:
Any lawful activity. Registered
Agent: Corporation Service Company
80 State St Albany, NY 12207
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914-562-0834
WHYTeditor@gmail.com

Page 26 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
OPED
The Folly of God-denial
Continued from page 25
declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the
work of his hands.”
Einstein addressed the inherent hubris associated
with God-denial:
I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call
myself a pantheist. The problem involved is
too vast for our limited minds. We are in the
position of a little child entering a huge library
filled with books in many languages. The child
knows someone must have written those books.
It does not know how. It does not understand
the languages in which they are written. The
child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the
arrangement of the books but doesn’t know
what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude
of even the most intelligent human being
toward God. We see the universe marvelously
arranged and obeying certain laws but only
dimly understand these laws.
Although there is no evidence that, in life,
Albert Einstein accepted the lordship of Jesus
Christ, when asked if he believed in Jesus the
historical figure, he responded: “Unquestionably!
No one can read the Gospels without feeling the
actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates
in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”
Undeniably, Jesus’ existence, teachings –
even many of the miracles He performed while
on earth – are corroborated through a multitude
of non-Christian historical sources.
Still, the mere belief in a creator God, or an
admission that Jesus walked the earth, is altogether
insufficient to recompense the debt owed
for the fruits of wickedness, sown and harvested
throughout our lives. As James 2:19 declares:
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even
the demons believe that – and shudder.”
NEW YORK CIVIC
Fifty Years On
By HENRY J. STERN
Fifty years ago today, I was appointed
and sworn in as Secretary of the
Borough of Manhattan. That
elegant title did more than justice to
my actual duties, which were those of a staff assistant
to the Borough President of Manhattan, at
the time Edward R. Dudley.
Judge Dudley had won the Democratic
primary for Borough President over
Assemblyman Lloyd Dickens in a race that was a
sidebar to the city-wide contest for the Mayoralty
which followed Mayor Wagner’s break with
Carmine DeSapio, leader of Tammany Hall, the
regular Democratic organization. Mr. Dickens is
the father of Inez Dickens, a City Councilmember
from Harlem who has been mentioned as a
candidate for Council Speaker in 2013.
The Liberal Party, under the leadership of
Alex Rose, supported Wagner and was influential
in his primary victory. The Democratic county
leaders had supported State Comptroller Arthur
So there is a question of principal importance
to every human, and it is this: Is Jesus who
He claimed to be: God, Creator of the heavens
and earth; the singular path to salvation? Or was
He something else? As with any yes-or-no question,
there is a yes-or-no answer. There must be.
As author and Christian apologist C.S.
Lewis observed, Christ could have been only
one of three things: A lunatic, a liar, or – as He
often claimed and as billions have believed – the
sovereign Lord and Creator of the universe.
Lewis wrote in “Mere Christianity”:
A man who was merely a man and said the
sort of things Jesus said would not be a great
moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic
– on a level with the man who says he is a
poached egg – or else he would be the Devil
of Hell. You must make your choice. Either
this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else
a madman or something worse. You can shut
Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill
him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and
call Him Lord and God. But let us not come
with any patronizing nonsense about His
being a great human teacher. He has not left
that open to us. He did not intend to.
I write this with complete confidence: Albert
Einstein presently acknowledges the deity of Jesus
Christ. Every atheist, Muslim and Buddhist; every
Wiccan, Hindu and Jew; every man, woman
and child will bow before His nail-pierced feet.
Whether we do it in this life or the next may
determine where and how we spend eternity.
Philippians 2:10-11 assures us, “that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.”
John 3:36 warns: “Whoever believes in the
Son [Jesus] has eternal life, but whoever rejects
Politics Can Help Cities to Prosper If
Leaders Are Honest and Wise
Levitt, a regular Democrat from Kings County.
Dudley ran on Wagner’s ticket, which carried
Manhattan easily.
When it came time to select the staff for his
new term, Dudley found a dispensable Democratic
district leader, Florence M. Ferguson of Inwood,
who held the title of Secretary of the Borough
of Manhattan. Ms. Ferguson, an affable woman
whose husband was an optometrist from 207th
Street, resigned, leaving a timely vacancy. To fill
it, Dudley chose a 26-year-old government buff
who at the time was serving as law clerk to a State
Supreme Court Justice, Matthew M. Levy. That is
how I entered the full-time profession of politics.
To fill Ms. Ferguson’s spot, Borough
President Dudley relied on several members of
his senior staff. Perhaps the most influential was
Jerome L. Wilson, his press secretary. Wilson, a
man of unusual ability and high principle, was
later elected to the State Senate, representing East
Harlem and Yorkville. He served two terms in
the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains
on him.”
Christ was both tolerant and intolerant –
utterly exclusive and wholly inclusive. He said in
no uncertain terms: “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me” (John 14:6)
Note that, rather conspicuously, Jesus did
not say: “No one comes to the Father except
through me, the Buddha, Muhammad, Ganesh
or L. Ron Hubbard.”
Utterly exclusive.
Yet He also promised us this: “Come to me,
all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.
Let me teach you, because I am humble and
gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden
I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
Romans 10:13 is even more direct:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.”
Wholly inclusive.
The Bible is one of two things: it’s either
simply an ancient text chock-full of creative tales
and loose philosophies no more relevant to our
daily lives than a Tony Robbins self-help book,
or it is what it says it is: the inerrant, inspired
Word of God. It can be nothing else.
If it is the former, then today’s secular
fundamentalists have it right. The Bible should
be taken with a grain of salt, enjoyed simply for
its literary and historical value, or ignored altogether.
However, if it is the latter – if the Bible
really is the inerrant, inspired Word of God as
it purports to be – then we ignore or reject it at
our own peril.
Any philosophy that embraces relativism is
a philosophy in conflict with objective, universal
Albany, but his career
in elective office
ended when he lost a
race for Congress in
1966 to incumbent
Ted Kupferman.
Wilson later became a successful attorney in New
York City. A reform Democrat who was also a
reasonable person, he would have made a fine
County Leader.
The small Liberal Party, which had supported
Dudley, was divided in its choice. The executive
director of the Party favored an official who had been
his employee at party headquarters. Wilson and
younger staff members, as well as the Liberal Party
vice chairman, liked me. The Borough President
made the final decision, and did not regret it.
Two years later, Dudley was elected to the
State Supreme Court. He advanced in the court
system and remained until he retired. He was
succeeded, eventually, by Constance Baker Motley,
a civil rights attorney who had been elected to the
New York State Senate. In 1966, she became
the first African-American woman to become a
United States District Judge. She was appointed
to the bench by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The Secretary of the Borough was one
truth. A society that demands all things “inclusive”
and enshrines unqualified “tolerance” for
all cultures, behaviors or faith traditions has
run afoul of reality. Pluralism and truth are
incompatible.
Now, I’m very sorry that most liberals,
universalists and non-believers feel that
Christianity is deficiently “tolerant” or “inclusive”
of various manmade religions, attitudes of
materialism or lifestyle choices. But it’s not our
call. Truth remains that, regardless of whether we
choose to acknowledge it.
Christ Himself reveals over and again that
the pathway to heaven is a very narrow one,
requiring membership in an exclusive corporate
body – membership of which belief in Him and
repentance from sin are the only requirements.
But they are requirements.
We are on notice. We have no excuse. The
end of our temporal lives marks the beginning
of our eternal ones. We each have a choice.
We either choose to spend eternity bathed in
the magnificent glory that is the light of Jesus
Christ; or we choose complete separation from
Him. We choose indescribable hopelessness;
darkness without end; eternal torment of a kind
our finite minds cannot fathom.
John 3:16 reveals the greatest gift ever offered
unto man: “For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
If you have yet done so, I pray in the New
Year that you will resolve to accept the gift of
eternal life. With it, you are reborn.
With it, a great nation is reborn.
Matt Barber (@jmattbarber on Twitter) is an
attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He
serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action.
(This information is provided for identification
purposes only.)
of a staff of about a hundred who conducted
the business of the office. Some were ‘political’,
others were civil servants. They varied in ability
and industry but were loyal to their work and
to their employer. Over the years, the Borough
President’s office was sharply reduced in size as its
line functions were transferred to operating agencies,
primarily the Department of Highways. The
maintenance and repair of streets, a function or
the Borough President for a century, was in the
process of professionalization and depoliticization,
a task that would take years to complete.
By the year 1962, much of the Borough
President’s work dealt with community relations,
and acting as liaison between community boards
and public agencies. The Borough President is
also involved in city planning, economic development,
and zoning issues. I both represented the
Borough President at meetings and reported to
him on community sentiment.
Public service is a privilege. If it is done
honestly and well, it can substantially benefit the
people. Over the years, that is what I have tried
to do.
Henry J. Stern is the founder and president of New
York Civic (www.NYCivic.org).

The Westchester Guardian
THURSDAY, January 5, 2012
Page 27
Yonkers Downtown
International Restaurant Week
Saturday January 21
~to~
Sunday January 29
Take a fabulous culinary trip around the world when the
Yonkers Downtown BID presents its very first International Restaurant Week.
You will have the opportunity to dine in some of Westchester’s best
restaurants at an incredible discount for lunch and dinner.
a 20% discount on lunch
& a 25% discount on dinner.
Select menu items. Prices do not include alcoholic beverages, gratuity and taxes.
To receive your discount, you MUST acknowledge
“Yonkers International Restaurant Week” when calling to book
your reservation at the restaurants of your choice listed below.
Online reservations will NOT receive this special offer.
Visit our Website Now
To Receive Your Discount Voucher
YonkersRestaurantWeek.com
Stephen Sansone
Executive Director
Yonkers Downtown BID
“
C’mon downtown to Yonkers and
join us for our First International
Restaurant Week. Enjoy some
of Westchester’s most critically
acclaimed restaurants serving up
international cuisines by some of the
most celebrated chefs in the region at
”
amazing discounts. Bon Appétit!
Participating Restaurants
(At time of publication. Other restaurants to be announced.)
X2O - XAVIAR’S
ON THE HUDSON
71 Water Grant St.
(914) 965 - 1111
xaviars.com
Excludes Sunday Brunch
KHANGRI
JAPANESE AND ASIAN
22 Warburton Ave.
(914) 968-2134
khangrijapanese
restaurant.com
GIOVANNI’S IV
25 Main Street
(914) 375-1429
giovannis4.com
ZUPPA RESTAURANT
AND LOUNGE
59 Main Street
(914) 376-6500
zupparestaurant.com
DOLPHIN
RESTAURANT
Van Der Donck St.
(914) 751-8170
dolphinrbl.com
LA BELLA HAVANA
35 Main Street
(914) 920-9777
labellahavana.com
THE PIZZA PLACE
92 Main Street
(914) 709-1050
thepizzaplaceinc.com
Entertainment
Musical entertainment will take place at restaurants throughout the week.
Visit YonkersRestaurantWeek.com for information and updates.
15 Main Street, Yonkers, NY 10701 (914) 969-6660
www.YonkersDowntown.com

Page 28 The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, January 12, 2012
Inaugural Voyages of Riviera
Your World. Your Way. Oceania Cruises is the world’s only upper-premium cruise line and offers and unrivaled
combination of the finest cuisine, elegant accommodations, personalized service and extraordinary value. And aboard
the brand new Riviera, and her sisiter Marina, you’ll experience the most elegant ships to debut in the past 50 years.
Pearls of the Aegean
10 nights, May 16 - 26, 2012
Five-Star Riviera | Offer #1200304
Radiant Riviera
12 nights, Jul 7 - 19, 2012
Five-Star Riviera | Offer #1200310
Azure Coasts
10 nights, Aug 23 - Sep 2, 2012
Five-Star Riviera | Offer #1200316
EXCLUSIVE
FREE Gratuities
& $ 100 onboard
credit*
EXCLUSIVE
FREE Gratuities
& $ 50 onboard
credit*
EXCLUSIVE
FREE Gratuities
& $ 50 onboard
credit*
$
2,500 off 2-for-1 fares & FREE air* $
1,500 off 2-for-1 fares & FREE air* $
2,000 off 2-for-1 fares & FREE air*
B4 - Veranda
Stateroom
A4 - Concierge
Veranda
PH3 - Penthouse
Suite
1st guest Was $ 11,198 1st guest Was $ 12,198 1st guest Was $ 14,798
Now $ 8,698 Now $ 9,698 Now $ 12,298
2nd guest FREE 2nd guest FREE 2nd guest FREE
B4 - Veranda
Stateroom
A4 - Concierge
Veranda
PH3 - Penthouse
Suite
1st guest Was $ 13,598 1st guest Was $ 14,598 1st guest Was $ 17,198
Now $ 12,098 Now $ 13,098 Now $ 15,698
2nd guest FREE 2nd guest FREE 2nd guest FREE
B4 - Veranda
Stateroom
A4 - Concierge
Veranda
PH3 - Penthouse
Suite
1st guest Was $ 11,598 1st guest Was $ 12,598 1st guest Was $ 15,198
Now $ 9,598 Now $ 10,598 Now $ 13,198
2nd guest FREE 2nd guest FREE 2nd guest FREE
POINTS OF DISTINCTION • Elegant mid-size ships featuring large-ship amenities • Free and unlimited soft drinks and bottled water througout the ship
Country club-casual ambiance; tuxedos & gowns are never required • Finest cuisine at sea, served in up to six open-seating restaurants; all at no additional charge
Gourmet culinary program created by world-renowned Master Chef Jacques Pépin • Canyon Ranch SpaClub ® • Best value in luxury cruising
Graybar Building - New York
420 Lexington Ave, Suite 1603
pisabrothers.com
800.729.7472
mgr@pisabrothers.com
*All advertised fares already reflect all discounts. Any applicable shipboard credits or special amenities shown are per stateroom based on double occupancy. All advertised fares and offers are per person based on double occupancy, are subject to availability at time of booking, may not be combinable with other offers, are capacity
controlled and may be withdrawn without prior notice or remain in effect after the expiration date. All fares listed are in U.S. dollars, per person, based on double occupancy and include Non-Commissionable Fares. Cruise-related Gov- ernment Fees and Taxes of up to $19.50 per guest per day are additional. Cruise Ship Fuel Surcharge
may apply and, if applicable, is additional revenue to Oceania Cruises. 2 for 1 and Special Offer fares are based on published Full Brochure Fares. Full Brochure Fares may not have resulted in actual sales in all cabin categories, may not have been in effect during the last 90 days and do not include Personal Charges and Optional Facilities
and Services Fees as defined in the Terms and Conditions of the Guest Ticket Contract which may be viewed at OceaniaCruises. com. Full Brochure Fares are cruise only. “Free Airfare” promotion does not include ground transfers and applies to economy, round-trip flights only from the following Oceania Cruises Primary Air Gateways:
ATL, BOS, ORD, DEN, DFW, EWR, IAH, LAX, MIA, IAD, JFK, MCO, PHL, PHX, SAN, SEA, SFO, TPA, YUL, YYC, YYZ, YVR. Airfare is available from all other U.S. & Cana- dian gateways at an additional charge. Any advertised fares that include the “Free Airfare” promotion include airline fees, surcharges and government taxes. Some airline-imposed
personal charges, including but not limited to baggage, priority boarding and special seating, may apply. Oceania Cruises reserves the right to change any and all fares, fees and surcharges at any time. Additional terms and conditions may apply. Complete terms and conditions may be found in the Guest Ticket Contract. Ships’ Registry:
Marshall Islands. Pisa Brothers strongly recom- mends the purchase of travel insurance. We reserve the right to correct errors and omissions. For complete terms and conditions contact Pisa Brothers.
www.westchesterguardian.com