Yonkers Rising March 18th, 2011

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Vol 106 Number 11 Friday, March 18, 2011

what’s inside

School 23 Takes 1st at History Day

Page 2

Philipse Manor Hall is Back! Page 3

Yonkers Hyperlocal Pages 4 & 5

IG’s Towing Report Page 5

Yonkers Dentist Gives Free Smiles

Page 11

Last Taste of St. Patrick’sDay in Yonkers

Page 12

By Dan MurphyDemocrat Katherine Brezler, a Teaching As-

sistant at Family School 32 in Yonkers, announced her candidacy for City Council in the 5th District at an event outside of the former Stewart Stamp-ing Company plant last week.

“I look forward to meeting the challenges that elected officials face here in Yonkers, and I look forward to facing them alongside the resi-dents of this great city. I will listen to my friends,

neighbors and community leaders. This is the per-fect time to run,” said Brezler, 29, who brings the civic-minded, grassroots energy of the next gen-eration of Yonkers residents stepping forward to lead.

Brezler’s work experience in the Yonkers Public Schools makes education one of her pri-orities, along with encouraging smart economic development and strengthening community orga-

Editor’s Note: Please enjoy this story, which will appear in the next issue of the Yon-kers Student Grapevine

By Bayan Baker, Yonkers High SchoolEveryone dreams of winning the lottery; ev-

eryone dreams of achieving their goals and mak-ing their wishes come true.

Seventeen year old Yonkers High School se-nior Melinda Ademi has certainly won the lottery. She gained the opportunity to live out her dreams with her golden ticket to Hollywood.

Ademi was featured on the newest season of American Idol earlier this year, on one of the show’s preliminary competitions. It is here, world-

wide, that thousands of competitors put forth their best efforts and sing their hearts out, all with the same goal; to impress the judges well enough to make it to Hollywood.

Born in Rosenheim, Germany in 1993, Ademi experienced the harshness and difficulty of war; at times, conditions were unbearable and, soon enough, her parents became war refugees from Kosovo, headed towards Germany for a bet-ter life. Fortunately, the Ademi family won the “green card lottery” and had the opportunity to immigrate to America, the promised land of op-portunities.

“I was fortunate because if I didn’t come to America, I wouldn’t have the opportunities today to pursue singing and get a great education,” said Ademi.

Ademi presented a touching story to Idol viewers of the struggles of her family’s past, yet it did not match her magnificent voice, which truly impressed the judges. Her impressive onstage aura and beautiful confidence helped assure the three judges, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson, that Melinda was a star shining in her spotlight.

Steve Tyler said, “I like that you’re very pret-ty and beautiful and play it down and your singing was sweet and straight and beautiful.”

Randy Jackson commented, “I think you’ve got potential and I am going to say yes.”

Jennifer Lopez told her, “Now you’re here and you can live the American dream.”

And so, with three sure-fire responses of yes from the judges, Ademi was on her way to Hol-lywood to live her dreams of stardom.

When the time came around for the first epi-sode, Ademi, her fans and viewers and all of her friends and family, especially those at Yonkers High who made time to watch her shine, were anxious and waiting in their seats. Ademi and her “singing-sister,” Thia Megia, sang “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.

Like all good things that have a reason, Ademi was not asked to continue on into the next

By Dan MurphyThe current $103 million budget facing Yon-

kers underscores the fact that new investment and development are a crucial part of the future of New York’s fourth largest, and Westchester’s single largest, city. Under Mayor Phil Amicone, the results have been a mixed bag; some projects have been completed and are successful, while other plans stagnate on hold.

The redevelopment of Yonkers, along with

similar projects in communities across the coun-try, came to a halt in late 2008 as a result of the financial crisis and recession.

Financing for new development projects dried up quickly, but Yonkers fared better than most, with several projects already built or ready to break ground. They include:

• Ridge Hill — this long-debated and some-times controversial project is well on its way to

By Dan MurphyParents, students and staff in the Yonkers

Public Schools YPS are calling the projected $102 million budget shortfall in the city’s up-coming budget “insurmountable,” and they may be right. City services, city and YPS alike, which had to made cuts last year, now need to make ad-ditional, and more painful, cuts this year.

At a recent City Council budget committee meeting, councilmembers inquired about how possible cuts to the Yonkers Fire Department (YFD) would affect a federal grant for $4.8 mil-lion the city recently received thanks to Con-gresswoman Nita Lowey.

The funds were for the re-hiring of the 16 firefighters who were laid off last year. These firefighters have been re-hired and are back at work, with the grant paying for their salary and benefits for two years. After two years, the fund-ing runs out.

The problem is that, with the city facing another massive budget hole, layoffs will likely have to come from all departments, including the YFD. Firefighter and Firefighters Local 628 President Barry McGoey explained that the city is entitled to layoff these same 16 firefighters, “but it wouldn’t save a penny. These firefighter’s salaries and benefits are paid for over the next two years by the federal grant. If you lay them off, you are wasting the grant and the money will go back to Washington to be awarded to and spent by another fire department.”

While all councilmember’s at the meeting asked repeated questions about the grant, the re-quirements and how it will affect the upcoming budget, Councilman Dennis Shepherd got to the crux of the matter.

“Isn’t this grant tying our hands with the fire department in the upcoming budget?” Shepherd asked. “And does this grant mean that while we

will have to make layoffs everywhere, it doesn’t make sense to layoffs in the fire department?”

The answer to Shepherd’s question is that the city would have to lay off more than 16 firefighters, in order to see any budget savings, which is possible. But Shepherd is correct in that Lowey’s grant for the YFD insulates them from anything but cuts deeper than the city has seen in decades.

The budget outlook for the YPS is even bleaker, with Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio facing an $88 million hole. Members of the Yon-kers Council of PTAs/PTSAs (YCPTA) sent out this message to Yonkers stakeholders:

Mardi Gras Yonkers Style!

Katherine Brezler Announces5th District Council Run

Grapevine Preview: Yonkers’ American Idol Falls Short But Makes Us Proud

The Redevelopment of Yonkers:Some Successes, Some Delays

Can Yonkers Balance‘Insurmountable’ Budget Deficit?

Young church-goers from St. John’s celebrate Mardi Gras

Katherine Brezler announcing her 5th City Council District Candidacy

Melinda Ademi

A rendering of the completed River Park Center

Councilman Dennis Shepherd

See story and more photos on Page 11

Continued on Page 10


Continued on Page 3

Continued on Page 2

Photo by Donna Davis

Next WeekLesnick vs. AmiconeThe Gloves Come Off

PAGE 2 - yoNkERs RIsING - FRIdAy, MARch 18, 2011

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Sacred Heart vs. White Plains in Round 2 of ‘The Challenge’

Yonkers NAACP CelebratesUnsung Heroines

School 23 Captures 1st Place at History Day and Prepares for State Competition

Following their first-round victories, the academic teams from Sacred Heart High School from Yonkers and White Plains High School are moving on to Round 2 of “The Challenge,” an academic quiz show designed to test students’ knowledge in a Jeopardy-style format.

The second round match-up between all-star student scholars from each school will air in high definition on Wednesday, March 30 at 5:30 p.m. on MSG Varsity, Cablevision’s iO TV

– Channel 14.Representing Sacred Heart will be (above

left, l to r): advisors Florence Caragine and Christa Napolatino, Joseph Mahoney, Michelle Muzzio, host Jared Cotter, Captain Matt Schwal-benberg and Amanda Fernandes.

Representing White Plains will be: (above, l to r) advisor Les Roby, Aneesh Bhattacharya, Captain Alec Johnsson, Adam Jaffe and Eric Smiley.

The Yonkers NAACP will celebrate Wom-en’s History Month on Monday, March 28 at 7 p.m. at the Nepperhan Community Center, lo-cated at 342 Warburton Ave.

Elvina Schullere On May 28, 1929, Elvina Denise Whittaker

Schullere was born to Eustace Delrico Whit-taker and Marguerite St. Elmo Oxley Whittaker in Woodbrook, Port-Au-Spain, Trinidad, then a British colony.

Schullere was awarded as Associates degree in Humanities from Elizabeth Seton College and a Certificate of Nutrition Education: Fundamen-tals for Consultants from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In 1984, she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Donsbach University and later her MS and PhD in Clinical Nutrition. In her capacity as a nutritionist, Schullere has been a supporter and guest speaker to the Cancer Support Group at St. Johns Riverside Hospital from 1992 through present.

Phyllis Jackson A Yonkers resident and long-time member

of the NAACP and the African Heritage Com-mittee, Jackson has a strong spiritual background which guides her through her every day journey. She is always willing to giver of herself to help others.

Dwanita Crosby Dwanita Crosby was born in Mt. Vernon

and raised in Yonkers, where she was a long-time member of Messiah Baptist Church. As a member, she was a part of various church choirs and the Praise and Worship Team and often helped with church banquets. Crosby attended

the Nepperhan Community Center After School Program and volunteered in the community with organizations to increase services and opportuni-ties in the community.

Due to her volunteerism, the YWCA of Yon-kers offered her a summer position each year as an Assistant in Day Care and worked one sum-mer with Executive Director Patricia Sadler. In 2000, she graduated from Lincoln High School where she was a member of the Lincoln High School Gospel Choir.

Second time is a charm as seventh grade students from School 23 took first place at the 20th Annual Lower Hudson Valley History Day on March 12.

Under the guidance and direction of Dan-ielle Alvarez, history teacher at School 23, stu-dents captured first place titles in two categories. Tayael McCallop’s “Junior Individual Perfor-mance” and Dianna Torres, Katherine Valle and Alejandra Guevara’s “Junior Group Documen-tary” reigned number one in a stiff competition, which included representation from Westchester, Rockland and Orange County schools.

Alvarez facilitated countless hours of prep-aration as students collaborated, designed and researched projects and presentations. McCal-lop’s dramatic performance included retelling the history of the African Burial Ground in NYC

and the “Junior Group Documentary” debated if a memorial should or should not be erected at the African Burial Ground site.

Alvarez and History Day participants Mar-garet Morales, Elira Avdiu, Rawan Abualteen, Giselle Toribio, Sabrina Bosch, Salivette Marti-nez, Giselle Ruiz, McCallop, Torres, Valle, Gue-vara and Shannon Rogers are now preparing for their 2011 New York State History Day competi-tion. The State finals are taking place in historic Cooperstown on Friday, April 29.

Join us as we congratulate and celebrate students and Alvarez, who has “enhanced history education so that every student will be equipped with a working knowledge of history and devel-op the skills necessary to contribute to the public good of our nation.”

Dwanita Crosby

History teacher Danielle Alvarez (center) with her History Day winners, Tayael McCallop, Dianna Torres, Katherine Valle and Alejandra Guevara

Mary J. Blige Center participants Latonia Johnson, Joarlyn Vega, Diashanany Graham and Sharmaine Gaskill and Center Director Michelle Hammett at a Women’s History Month

luncheon at Casa Frela Gallery

At the invitation of Catherine Warren-Bishop of Kitty Rose Lifestyles, several participants of the Mary J. Blige Center and Program Director Michelle Hammett were honorary guests at a recent luncheon at Casa Frela Gallery in New York City to celebrate of Women’s History Month.

Guest speakers, including talent promoter and AIDS activist Maria Davis, clothing de-signer Latish Daring, writer and CNN contrib-uter Michaela Angela Davis and entrepreneur Michael Walker, shared inspirational stories during the event.

“The young women of the Center and I felt extremely honored to be part of this moti-vational event,” said Hammett.

Marthalicia Matarrita, a professional art-ist whose work was displayed at the luncheon, donated an art piece she worked on at the event to the MJB Center. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from the luncheon will go to the Center.

Located in Yonkers, The Mary J. Blige Center for Women is a partnership between WJCS (Westchester Jewish Community Ser-vices) and FAWN (Foundation for the Ad-vancement of Women Now). The program aims to provide girls and women with skills, knowledge, resources and supports that will empower them to pursue their personal goals and become self-sufficient, confident women.

Mary J. Blige Participants Honored on Women’s History Month

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Budget Deficit: Continued from Page 1

“The Yonkers Public Schools are facing an insurmountable deficit for the coming school

year.“A $102.9 million dollar deficit is projected

for next year if the State Senate and Assembly bills are passed: $25.4 million cut in federal aid, $21.9 million cut in state support (originally projected by the state as $17.6 million), $15.2 in VLT proceeds on top of a $40.5 million increase in expenses.

“This loss of funding represents more than a 20 percent deficit to our schools funding and opens us to the potential of having to lay off 25 percent of the staff.

“The YCPTA will be outlining what we be-lieve to be the unbearable circumstances under which our children will have to attend school next year. YCPTA feels that is imperative that the devastating effects to the Yonkers Public Schools be singled out as, yet again, we are slat-ed to receive less money while our sister districts across the state are earmarked to receive more. We cannot stand by and allow this to happen!

“YCPTA President AnnMarie Smith be-lieves it is of the utmost importance to make sure the voices of Yonkers parents are heard in this time of fiscal crisis.”

The critical budget question facing Yonkers is; where will the funding come from? With state and federal funds dried up, Yonkers must hope on a reprieve from Albany, perhaps in the exten-sion of the millionaire’s tax, which could restore some state education aid for the YPS. The only other option is more funding from the city — from the taxpayers — which means higher prop-erty taxes.

Mayor Phil Amicone will present his pro-posed budget next month. In the past, Amicone has held the line on increases to property taxes to five percent. A five percent property tax in-crease this year will fall far short in closing the deficits on either the city or school budgets, leaving no alternative but layoffs and/or union concessions.

Rallies for Education were held this week, with coverage in next week’s edition of Yonkers Rising.

What is your view on the city’s budget? Are you willing to pay more in property taxes? What cuts should be made? Send your letters to dmur [email protected].

round; nevertheless, she stands tall and proud to this day, and is quite jubilant with her achieve-ments! Congratulations Melinda for making it that far! We are all terrifically proud of you!

“I am so happy that I had a chance to be a part of American Idol and it was an amazing experience. It was a complete dream come true experience when I earned the famous ‘golden ticket,’” said Ademi. “Actually, being in the show and making it to the Top 60 made me realize that the possibilities in life are endless.”

Ademi says that she will continue living out her dream of expressing herself and signing. She plans to release a Demo CD within the year so, Yonkers students, family and friends — be on the lookout!

Westchester has a talented and amazing young woman who is not afraid to shine! Best of luck, Melinda, and congratulations on making it

that far! We are all terrifically proud of you. May all your dreams come true.

Follow Melinda Ademi at www.facebook.com/melindaofficial and www.youtube.com/Me lindaAdemi.

FRIdAy, MARch 18, 2011 - yoNkERs RIsING - PAGE 3

Yonkers’ Hyperlocal News

The union thatmakes SUNYwork

Phillip H. Smith, President

United University Professions

“No one told me that SUNY budget cuts wouldmean I couldn’t afford to stay in college. I didn’tplan on it taking five or six years to graduate.

“But with larger class sizes, fewer professorsand cancelled courses,

that’s exactly what’shappening. Andit isn’t just me.SUNY ismaxed out.”

SUNY has already lost $585 million in thelast two years. It can’t afford to lose anymore state support.

Facts:� Threats to cut another $100 million in state

support would mean a 30% reduction inSUNY’s operating budget.

� SUNY has lost 1,300 faculty since the 1990s.

� 26,000 more students attend SUNY’sfour-year schools than did 15 years ago.

� Several state-operated campuses havesuspended admissions in key subject areas.

“I didn’t count on leaving SUNYwithout a degree.”

“You think you’re cutting costs?Your cuts cost me my future.”

Tell state lawmakers: Stop SUNY budget cuts.Take action!

Go to saveSUNY.org

In letters distributed this week to district staff and parents, Superintendent of Yonkers Public Schools (YPS) Bernard P. Pierorazio urged stakeholders to speak up for the District’s 26,000 students and 3,500 employees.

“We must unite and speak up to demand proper funding of the Yonkers Public Schools as well as the preservation of people and programs that have elevated the district to new heights,” wrote Pierorazio.

In recent months, Pierorazio has traveled to Albany to address the disparity in state educa-tion aid. He will soon journey to Washington to continue efforts for equitable funding.

In his letters, Pierorazio asked district staff and families to join him and speak up by con-

tacting elected officials.“We must be heard beyond our local rep-

resentatives, who support education; everyone must contact the governor’s office and our state and federal legislators to make sure that funding is secured,” he said. See Pierorazio’s full letter below.

State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins also rallied to restore proposed state budget cuts to education funding, joining several of her demo-cratic colleagues and the Alliance for Quality Education at a press conference in Albany.

Stewart-Cousins says the cuts, totaling more then $1.5 billion, can be restored by continuing the income tax surcharge on individuals netting

State SenatorAndrea Stewart-Cousins

Superintendent of Schools Bernard Pierorazio

Pierorazio & Stewart-Cousins Ask Yonkers to Speak Up for Education Funding

American Idol Continued from Page 1

Philipse Manor Hall in Downtown Yonkers

Philpse Manor Hall, a Yonkers treasure, is now open again after being closed for a period of time recently due to state budget cuts.

The Friends of Philipse Manor Hall (FPMH) has announced a new concert series, which will premiere on Saturday, April 2 at St. John’s Epis-copal Church, to celebrate the reopening. The first show is a double bill performance featuring sopra-no and FPMH Boardmember Yolanda F. Johnson and the Hudson Valley Chamber Singers, one of Westchester’s most highly sought-after vocal en-sembles.

FPMH is dedicated to the support and en-hancement of Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site. Located in downtown Yonkers, Philipse Manor Hall serves as a museum of history, art and architecture, as well as host to community organi-zations, meetings, educational programs and spe-cial events.

Highlights of the hall include its 18th cen-tury, high style Georgian architecture, a 1750s papier mache Rococo ceiling and an impressive collection of presidential portraits, including the six Presidents from New York State. FPMH’s goal is to foster public interest in and support for the hall, and they offer a number of exciting and educational events throughout the year, including concerts, lectures, a Spring Flower Festival, Yon-kers Riverfest activities and holiday events.

Johnson has had an outstanding career as a performing artist, educator and supporter of the arts. She is an accomplished pianist as well as vo-calist. Johnson holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance and arts manage-ment, respectively. She has performed in several musical genres, including opera, concert, oratorio and sacred music.

She is an active recitalist/lecturer on many

musical subjects, most notably, her concert/lec-ture on African-American spirituals, A Spirituals Experience. She has also performed as a guest so-loist with various orchestras and made her NYC operatic debut as Zerlina in Mozart’s “Don Gio-vanni.”

Johnson has performed internationally, in-cluding at the Elysium Music Festival in Ger-many. She is a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Women’s Music Fraternity, a lead singer at First Baptist Church of Tarrytown and is on the artist roster of Sing for Hope. She has been a featured presenter at Performing the World International Performing Arts Conference and was recently featured on “Music with a Mission,” a popular podcast series from Times Square Church Music in Manhattan.

The Hudson Valley Chamber Singers is a 10-member vocal ensemble, selected from the larg-er Hudson Valley Singers, a well-known and high-ly-respected music organization in Westchester. The group’s objectives are to contribute to the cultural life of the community, especially under-served areas, through public performances of cho-ral music of the 17th through 20th centuries.

The Hudson Valley Chamber Singers are di-rected by renowned conductor Eugene Sirotkine, a St. Petersburg, Russia-born conductor who de-buted with the Latvian Philharmonic in St. Peters-burg in 1989 and was an assistant conductor and assistant chorus master with the New York Metro-politan Opera from 1999 through 2008. He is also the conductor of the New York Metamorphoses Orchestra. Over the past two decades he has con-ducted orchestras and choruses across the globe.

For more information on Philipse Manor Hall and its programs, visit www.philipsemanorhall.blogspot.com.

Philipse Manor Hall is Back!

Continued on Page 6


Yonkers’ Hyperlocal News

Photos by Paul Jerome

A young Jim Howard in his boxing prime (above)and one of Howard’s pupils, Chris “Sugar Ray” Ventura (top)

Paul Bookbinder, M.I.D., C.R.

The blizzards have fi-nally ended and soon, many people’s thoughts will turn towards the traditional, yearly ritual of home improvement. And, of those contemplating this upcoming, seasonal com-pulsion, many will focus on their kitchen. Like the swal-lows returning from wher-ever they went, this need is not something to be ashamed of; our species simply has no control over it.

If you are facing the uncontrollable urge to remodel your kitchen, you will probably need some help. But don’t despair; you don’t have to do it alone. There

are many qualified kitchen designers available to create a functional, as well as aes-thetically pleasing, kitchen to satisfy your desires.

Look for a firm that is associated with the National Kitchen and Bath Associa-tion. This is the largest orga-nization in the industry and it sets the standards for kitchen design. But don’t expect to get something for nothing because, (if I remember my Shakespeare), “nothing will come of nothing.”

Most successful kitchen designers charge for their initial work, however their charges and pricing structures vary greatly.

The Hon-orable Eliot L. Engel will ad-dress the Yon-kers Chamber of Commerce Net-working Break-fast on Tuesday, March 22, to be held at Saint Jo-seph’s Medical Center.

Engel will

serve as the Keynote speaker for the breakfast, sponsored by Saint Joseph’s Medical Center.

Early Bird Coffee and the opportunity to network with members starts at 7:30 a.m., with Breakfast at 7:45 a.m. The cost is $15 for mem-bers, $20 for guests of members and $25 for non-members.

Come early for networking and bring an ample supply of business cards and hand outs. To reserve, call the chamber office at 914-963-0332 and ask about our annual breakfast reser-vation ticket.

Fellow Yonkers Rotarians,On Wednesday, February 23, Rotarians in

New York celebrated Rotary’s 106th birthday together with Rotary International President Ray Klinginsmith, Rotary International Vice President Thomas Thorfinnson and Rotary International Di-rector Kenneth Grabeau, during the Next Genera-tions Luncheon at the Rotary Club of Chinatown.

Later the same day, The New York Stock Exchange celebrated Rotary Polio Plus by promi-nently displaying the Rotary logo and END PO-LIO NOW on the wall of the New York Stock Ex-change for everybody to see.

This was followed by a very successful VIP Reception and a Cocktail Buffet organized by the Rotary Club of Wall Street. This was one of the greatest Rotary moments in New York history.

The speaker during our next Rotary meeting, on Thursday, March 17, will be Don Hubert, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Bronxville. Hu-bert will speak about when he, as a kid, had his portrait painted by the famous Norman Rockwell.

Hubert is a Paul Harris fellow and Past Presi-dent of the Bronxville Rotary Club. He has also served in our Rotary District as Assistant Gov-ernor and Membership Chairman. He attended the Rotary International Convention in Glasgow, Scotland.

To be a Rotarian has many advantages and privileges. To be a Rotarian also has obligations. The Rotary motto is “Service Above Self.” Ro-tarians are responsible leaders who give back to society. One way of giving back to society is to support the Rotary Foundation, which is one of the most efficient charities in the world, because 100 percent of our donations are used for charity. There is no percentage deducted for administration!

If each of us Rotarians contribute $100 per year to the Rotary Foundation, Rotary, with its 1,221,920 members around the world, will col-lect $122,192,000. One hundred dollars per year is only 27 cents per day.

That is a very small price to pay in the spirit of Service Above Self. Those 27 cents per day will help the Rotary Foundation make an even bigger difference in the world. You can read about the Rotary Foundation at www.rotary.org/foundation.

You can conveniently make a tax deductible $100 donation to the Rotary Foundation via the Internet at the Web site, www.riweb.rotaryintl.org/donor_xml/contributionmenu.asp

Membership in Rotary gives added credibil-ity!Matts Ingemanson, President Rotary Club of Yonkers District Governor Nominee 2013-2014

By Paul JeromeIt’s amazing what we don’t know about the

people living right next to us.For example, our hidden hero Big Jim

Howard; if you see him you would agree Jim is a big man — he stands six foot five and weighs approximately 260 pounds. Impressive in stat-ure and hard to miss in any neighborhood.

Yet not many know about this big man’s even bigger heart and what he has done in his community.

Let’s catch up on what happened that makes Howard a hidden hero in the Getty Square com-munity and, for that matter, any where he has touched the lives of others. But, I am getting ahead of the story.

In 1967, Howard hurt his hand while out with some of his friends. The accident happened without warning and was a life changing event. As Howard relates the story, someone slammed the car door on his hand; at that moment Jim’s “world stopped.”

Needless to say, my friends, this was not a good thing to happen to a boxer on his way to stardom. Howard had to make some decisions. Imagine yourself as big Howard, just for a mo-ment; what would be going through your mind? You’re in the heavyweight class with the prom-ise of fame and, hopefully, fortune because of your boxing skills.

Howard recounts his win against Ken Nor-ton, who has beaten Cassius Clay. Managed by Gus D’Amato, Howard could KO a man with either hand. An adept two fisted hitter is not too often seen in boxing. He was ready to take the world on.

Suddenly fate, or just plain destiny, steps in, changing Howard’s life forever. With that slam of a car door, his promising career was over. Over!

Remember, I told you in Part I that Howard always had two jobs; he was a security officer and house detective at the Niagara Falls Holi-day Inn as well as a fighter.

In the late 1960s, after his accident, How-ard made a decision and went to work for the Working Boys Home in the Niagra Falls area, a decision he would never regret. Howard has said that he did not make the decision to work there easily after the accident, and he had help from a man you could say was quite a character and, as you will soon see, a wicked sense of hu-mor. His name was Franklin Kellehier.

Kellehier was born in the early 20s. Throughout his life, sports were always very important to him. He was a star athlete in high school and he later matriculated at Holy Cross in Dorchester, Massachusetts. While there, he starred on the basketball and baseball teams. He was also the star heavyweight boxing champion for two years. Soon, he became the top amateur boxer in the New England area.

Kellehier was one of those people who, like Jim, you pass in the street but would never guess how unique he was. In June of 1930, he studied for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest and soon after was assigned to the Buf-falo diocese. As a young priest, he had a part-time career as a professional wrestler without the church’s knowledge; Father Kellehier wore a mask to all his bouts. For four years, he had a successful and prosperous career as The Masked Marvel and, later, as The Red Devil.

He wrestled in Montréal, Toronto, Cleve-land and occasionally in Buffalo. In 1932, at a match against Sam Cordova, a well known foot-ball player and wrestler, Kellehier’s, mask came off. Soon, the real identity of The Red Devil reached the diocese of Buffalo. Well let’s just say Kellehier’s matt career came to an abrupt halt.

As Howard’s hand slammed in a car door changed his life, the un-masked priest’s life would also change and, ultimately, bring him and Howard together.

Although Kellehier’s career was quite short, he was able to save enough money that would later be used to help fund the Working Boys Home. Kellehier was asked to take over the directorship of the poorly-run home and held the position for 39 years.

Kellehier used boxing and other sports to help the 50 troubled boys that lived at the home. Kellehier began entering a team of amateur box-ers in the local Golden Gloves tournaments. He also promoted amateur boxing on regular basis.

Profits from these shows were used con-stantly to remodel and refurbish the Working Boys Home. When Howard met Kellehier, Kellehier had become a Monsignor. Both men clicked, according to Jim, and he soon made his decision to work at the home with these trou-bled young boys.

Helping at risk young boys become out-standing young men soon became Howard’s calling, thanks in part to the guidance and sup-port of Kellehier. On Saturday, March 5, I met up with one of Howard’s young men, Chris Ventura. I have to admit that I was extremely impressed with Chris.

He spoke almost reverently about Howard, but at first seemed hesitant to share his personal story. I broke the ice when I shared a little about my youth and the people that most influenced me to take the right path. Ultimately, Chris “Sugar Ray” Ventura, as he likes to be called, told me about his life.

Venture was hanging around with cliques and gangs when he met up with a friend of his who told him about Howard. “Sugar Ray” laughed when he told me about the suggestion of getting involved in boxing. Venture had no interest at all in boxing, but went to meet How-

An Old School 1970s-themed party and fundraising event will be held on March 26 at 9 p.m. at the Runyon Heights Community Center at 21 Runyon Avenue in Yonkers.

Tickets are $10, and the event is BYOB.For tickets or more information, call Dane

at 914-207-4058.

Kitchen & Bath Insider:Springtime Kitchen Compulsion

Congressman Eliot Engel to AttendNext Chamber of Commerce Breakfast

Rotary Club of Yonkers:91 years of Rotary Fellowship

Hidden Heroes:Big Jim Howard Part II

Old School 1970’s PartyAt Runyon Heights Center

Continued on Page 6

Paul Bookbinder, M.I.D., C.R.

Congressman Eliot Engel

Around the TownYonkers Public librarY

Still Life Painting Classes at Riverside The Hudson River Artist Guild, which meets

at the Riverfront Library, will offer an eight-week series of art classes in techniques of drawing and painting still life compositions taught by Claire Madlin, a professional art teacher. The classes will be held on Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on April 6, 13 and 27, May 4, 11, 18 and 25 and June 1 in the second floor Arts and Crafts Room. The classes are free, but participants must provide their own materials: drawing pencils, eras-ers, sketchbook, 11- by 14-inch canvas, acrylic paints, brushes and paint palettes. No experience is required.

Class size is limited to 15 people of any age. Yonkers residents have priority for registration. Registration begins on Wednesday, March 23. To register, call 914-375-7966 or come to the 3rd floor Information desk. For questions about artist mate-rials and class instruction, contact Claire Madlin at 914-819-0741 or [email protected].

Blood Drive at Riverside Donors are urgently needed for the Riverfront

Library’s Community Blood Drive on Monday, April 4 from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for adults and teens aged 16 and older. Teens must have written parental permission with them at the time of do-nation. Hudson Valley Blood Services, a division of the New York Blood Center, will be collecting donations in the first floor Atrium. Register to do-nate at the third floor Information Desk or call 914-375-7966. Donors will receive a coupon for one

additional hour of Internet access at the Riverfront Library. For more information contact Jody Maier, 914-337-1500 ext. 492.

“Songs of Love and Life” at Will “Songs of Love and Life,” a musical featuring

the IMA Singers, will be presented on Saturday, March 26 at 2 p.m. at the Yonkers Public Library Grinton I. Will branch, located at 1500 Central Park Ave. Admission is free of charge, no tickets are required and seating will be in the 325-seat au-ditorium at the library.

“Songs of Love and Life” features an after-noon of the classics from Opera to Broadway on these timeless themes. Singers include Jacqueline Buffone, Kristin Halliday and Janette Lallier with Gene Ballarin as narrator and Chun-Wei Kang on piano.

The IMA Singers is a group of professional singers who perform across the United States, Eu-rope, South America and Asia. The group is dedi-cated to bringing first class music events to diverse audiences.

Call the library at 914-337-1500 for further information and directions.

Yonkers Historical Society at Will Yonkers Historical Society invites you to at-

tend our 2011 Annual Meeting and Archival Dis-play, “A City in Motion — Images of Transporta-tion in Yonkers,” on Saturday, April 2. Display will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the meeting and program is at 1 p.m. in the Flynn Room of the Will Library. Special guest speaker will be Joe Schia-vone.

Serving Our CountryMajor General Patrick A. Murphy, The

Adjutant General for the State of New York, has announced that Luke Cleveland, Yonkers,

serving with the 1156th Engineer Company, Vertical, has been promoted to the rank of Spe-cialist.

Continued on Page 6


By Eric W. SchoenThe Manhattan (red) clam chowder still

tastes the same as when grandpa used to eat it when I was a little boy. And they still serve those little oysterette crackers with it, which are cru-cial to proper enjoyment of the clam chowder. Yes, I am talking about a great Yonkers institu-tion, Nathan’s on Central Avenue.

A few weeks ago, my friend and fellow columnist Michael LaMagna was coming down to Yonkers from Connecticut to see his mother with his two daughters, Julianna, who is 5 years old, and Gabriella, who is 1.

Where do you go in Yonkers with a 5 year old, a 1 year old, and three adults where there is something on the menu for everyone, the kids can run around without disturbing anyone and, for a couple of hours, a good time can be had by all? Throw in another caveat: the 5 year old loves hot dogs.

We use to go to Charlie Browns, which at lunch time was not crowded. The kids could run around and, with an extensive children’s menu and the salad bar, even the finickiest child could find something to eat. But Charlie Brown’s in Yonkers has gone to that restaurant resting place in the sky, so we put on our thinking caps and said hey, let’s try Nathan’s.

When I was doing internet searches to find the name of the stores that preceded Kohl’s and Caldors (Floyd’s and, even before that, Great Eastern), whether it was on Facebook or Mys-pace, everyone had fond memories of going to Nathan’s growing up. And though Nathan’s has expanded with outposts in malls, shopping centers and food courts throughout the country, the constant complaint is that the hot dogs don’t taste as good as they did at the Nathan’s on Cen-tral Avenue in Yonkers.

Now, don’t get upset with me, but I did not eat a hot dog during my recent visit to Nathan’s. They have this new menu item served in a hot dog bun featuring grilled chicken, onions and peppers and melted cheese. What a delicious, tasty, a-little-more-healthy-than-a-hot-dog treat!

The number two reason for you to be upset with me: I did not order my favorite Nathan’s french fries. But, like in the old days, when a couple fell onto the placemat at the counter from my friend’s order, I secretly nibbled on them. I didn’t dip my fallen fries in the ketchup you pump out of the vat at the condiment bar, but if french fries are good, they don’t need any condiments or extra seasoning. And I’m happy to report that nobody, to this day, makes french fries like the thick, crinkle cut juicy ones at Na-

than’s!So let’s start out with what’s missing from

the good old Nathan’s days. I was in the mood for a good deli sandwich, and the corned beef, brisket and pastrami sandwiches on good qual-ity Jewish rye bread are no more.

The secret to their good sandwiches — the rye bread was never the one fresh out of the oven. If you serve a sandwich on rye bread that is too fresh, the meat makes the bread disinte-grate. That’s why good delis use saran wrapped-packaged rye bread for sandwiches.

The bakery, on the right side when you walked in, with fresh baked breads, challah rolls, brownies with a thin, hard layer of choco-late on top, delicious rugelach and big cookies for the little kids, like me, are fond memories. The pizza stand, in the left hand corner next to the game room, which by Yonkers standards did not serve the best pizza in town, is long gone.

The bakery area now is the home to rides for the young children: 25 cents for a ride that moves back and forth and sideways. Do the rides feature the current children’s characters like Barney or Spongebob? Nope. Julianna and Gabriella had fun riding on, and alongside, Bat-man, Snoopy, the Jetsons, Spiderman and Ernie and Burt from Sesame Street, characters popular when I was a child.

Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips and TCBY yogurt are now featured. The kids loved the healthier yogurt in vanilla and chocolate flavors for dessert after devouring the grilled hot dogs and french fries. My friend Michael ordered a salad with chicken, way too healthy for Nathan’s standards. The lettuce was crisp and fresh, the chicken either grilled or fried, and came with a choice of dressings. Bountiful por-tions, in the Nathan’s tradition.

The free condiment bar, with juicy sauer-kraut, grilled onions and the vats with ketchup and mustard that you put in the little cups to take back to the table, still exists. How many times did you squirt the ketchup or mustard and it end-ed up all over the counter or, worse yet, all over your clothing?

Some parents were setting up a birthday party for their children, with Happy Birthday

This, Too, is Yonkers

Inspector General’s Report:City Towing Contracts

By Dan MurphyYonkers Inspector General Dan Schorr is-

sued the following report this week on the city’s policy on towing companies and contracts.

BackgroundWhen the Yonkers Police Department

(YPD) or the Parking Violations Bureau (PVB) encounter vehicles that they believe should be towed and/or impounded, private tow companies are notified to perform such functions. These companies must meet certain minimum qualifi-cations and, in the case of impounding, compete with each other for the contractual right to work with the city.

Recently, several questions and concerns regarding the city’s relationship with and selec-tion of tow companies have been brought to our attention. The objectives of the review were to:

• Evaluate procedures for vehicle tows initi-ated by the city;

• Review the process for selecting tow com-panies for city impound contracts;

• Analyze financial payments made by tow companies to the city; and

• Assess and recommend possible improve-ments for city interaction with tow companies.

Tow Companies and the “Police List” Yonkers City Code, Section 111, governs

the, “towing and storage of abandoned, dam-aged, disabled and wrecked vehicles,” in order to, “establish an orderly system for the safe and expeditious removal and storage of these vehi-cles from the streets and highways of the City

of Yonkers.”Among other items, it sets forth require-

ments for situations in which vehicles encoun-tered by the YPD are disabled and need to be towed.

The YPD maintains a “police list” of eli-gible tow companies that may be called when a disabled vehicle must be towed because of an accident or other malfunction. These companies on the police list, also known as the “emergency roster,” must conform to various mandates out-lined in Section 111. Currently, nine tow compa-nies are on this roster, and they perform a total of approximately 600 to 700 tows per year.

In order to successfully apply to be on the police list, a tow company must own and operate a, “New York State-registered body and fender shop,” and, “must have a place of business with-in the City of Yonkers.” The Code also specifies other requirements, such as paying the requisite license fee, maintaining a specified amount of insurance coverage, being on 24-hour call and responding within 20 minutes to a YPD tow re-quest.

Section 111 provides that the YPD rotate which licensed tow company on the police list is called for each emergency tow.

Impounded Vehicles ContractThe YPD and PVB order the impound of

vehicles on certain occasions, such as when they are illegally parked in certain areas, suspected to be evidence in a pending criminal investigation,

“Ladies” and “laughter” will be the watch-words at Empire City Casino at Yonkers Race-way on Wednesday,March 23 at 7 p.m., when comediennes Jessica Kirson, Arden Myrin and Lisa DeLarios will be the “Belles of the Ball” on the first-ever “Ladies of Comedy Night” in the casino’s Good Time Room.

There is free admission for Empire Club members and the cover charge for non-members is $15. Signing up for an Empire Club member-

ship is free and easy — visit the Promotions Booth on the first floor of the Gotham Palace for more information.

Kirson headlines the “Ladies of Com-edy Night.” Kirson’s wide variety of characters brings a diverse energy to her routine. She has performed on Comedy Central, HBO and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

For more information, call 914-968-4200 or visit www.empirecitygaming.com.

Jessica Kirson

Ladies of Comedy at Empire CityCasino at Yonkers Raceway

Continued on Page 6

Eric W. Schoen

Photo by Greg Baldwin

Nathan’s on Central Park Avenue



Make Rising Media Group a part of your advertising plan. Call today! 914-965-4000

Educational Excellence in WestchesterYonkers Academic Excellence

Loyola UniversityFall 2010 Dean’s List

James Dentico, class of 2011;Matthew Drexel, class of 2012; andAndrea Pesce, class of 2014.

University at AlbanyFall 2010 Dean’s List

Renny George;Lizbeth Merelo;Melvin Philip;Nicole Fainsan;Alvin George;Demetra Malamatenios;Ashraf Mokbel;Audrey Bridge;Young An;Sibil George;Casey Ferguson;Francesca Aliberti; and

Shanae Williams.Marist College

Fall 2010 Dean’s List Katherine Arlotta, Yonkers, class of 2014.

Ohio Wesleyan UniversityFall 2010 Dean’s List

Suzanne Samin, Yonkers, a graduate of The Ursuline School.

University of Delaware The following Yonkers residents have been

named to the fall 2010 Dean’s List:Raissa Elizabeth Dempsey, sophomore, Arts

and Sciences;Sabrina N. Ali, senior, Arts and Sciences;Kerrin Elizabeth Dougherty, freshman, Uni-

versity Studies; andThomas Carl McKenna, sophomore, Arts

and Sciences.

Come rain or shine, the Westchester Phil-harmonic has been bringing classical music to Westchester school children for more than 20 years.

This spring is no different. The orchestra is proud to announce Stormy Weather, two inter-active young people’s concerts at the Perform-ing Arts Center at Purchase College on Tuesday, April 5 at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

The concerts are the culminating experi-ence for nearly 2,000 third through fifth grad-ers in Westchester County who are participants in the Philharmonic’s 2011 classroom music education program, which this year focuses on weather music.

“For centuries composers have been in-spired by nature. Vivaldi, Beethoven and Strauss all found ways to use music to convey the expe-rience of weather phenomenon; from thunder to lightening to rolling clouds or tornadoes, com-

posers were able to transport listeners through sound,” said Philharmonic trumpet player, ex-perienced arts educator and program conduc-tor Wayne du Maine. Du Maine will lead area school children in a full orchestra concert featur-ing the music of some of these great composers, guiding young listeners through each weather-themed piece.

The Philharmonic’s classroom education program integrates music into the academic classroom through curriculum guides and live presentations. Study guides provided in advance as well as visits from professional teaching art-ists help academic teachers to weave the music and weather themes into everyday classroom lessons. The program culminates in a full-or-chestra performance on April 5.

The concerts will be held at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, located at 735 Anderson Hill Rd. in Purchase.

Students on Cloud 9 Thanks to Westchester Philharmonic

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more than $200,000 per year and couples net-ting more than $300,000 per year. The surcharge was signed into law in 2009, is set to expire on December 31 and would bring more than $4 bil-lion in revenue to the state this fiscal year.

“This is a responsible way to restore fund-ing to our schools, and it will show the people of New York that education is, and always will be, one of our top priorities,” said Stewart-Cousins. “These budget cuts would increase class sizes throughout the state and would cause layoffs, the elimination of programs and create further strain on the already overextended school districts.

“Continuing this surcharge would allow us to maintain quality education in our schools, which is what New York’s students need and de-serve,” she continued.

“We inevitably have difficult choices to make throughout the budget process, but we should not close a deficit by sacrificing the fu-ture of our kids.”

Pierorazio’s Letter Dear Colleague and Parents/Guardians:The 2011-2012 financial forecast for the

Yonkers Public Schools echoes last year’s dis-mal projections, except with bleaker implica-tions. In fact, the district now faces the worst financial crisis of our immediate history, with an anticipated $87.8 million budget shortfall.

For the second year in a row, YPS faces a budget gap, the result of a $25.4 million cut in federal aid, a $21.9 million cut in state aid (orig-inally projected to be $17.6 million) and a $40.5 million increase in expenses.

This loss of funding has the potential to end successful programs for our students and cause undue hardship to hundreds more employees. We must unite and speak up to demand proper funding of the Yonkers Public Schools, as well as the preservation of the people and programs that have elevated the district to new heights.

Speaking for our 26,000 students and 3,500 employees, I traveled to Albany and met with various legislative budget staff members and key legislators to address the disparity in state education funding. I urged our representatives to

take these necessary actions:• Fix the Foundation Aid formula to account

for the district’s growing enrollment and provide Yonkers $12.5 million in additional state aid;

• Adjust the Universal Prekindergarten grant to a more equitable rate of $5,800 per student, allocating Yonkers an additional $4.9 million;

• Credit Yonkers for realizing administra-tive efficiencies and achieving improved student performance improvements in prior years; and

• Fund or eliminate state and federal man-dates.

Moving forward, the following minimum efforts for our children must be non-negotiable:

Restore the state aid cuts in the proposed Executive Budget;

Equitably compensate the district for the 1,518 additional students enrolled over the past three years; and

Increase local funding of education by the City of Yonkers.

The Board of Education seeks to address this fiscal crisis with the least impact on class-room instruction. If we work together, strate-gies can be put in place that cost nothing and save millions. For employees, better attendance equals overall savings.

Three years ago, you responded to my re-quest to improve daily attendance and reduce the substitute budget that had ballooned to more than $3 million annually. You accepted the chal-lenge then; attendance improved, savings oc-curred and staff were saved.

Similar efforts now could save jobs in the future. I will be traveling to Washington to speak up for our children and staff. Join me and speak up for the Yonkers Public Schools by contacting our elected officials, whose contact information can be found at www.yonkerspublicschools.org.

We must be heard beyond our local repre-sentatives who already support education; ev-eryone must contact the governor’s office and our state and federal legislators to make sure that funding is secured. United, with one voice, we can overcome this impending financial di-saster.

Thank you for your continued support.Sincerely,Bernard P. Pierorazio.

Pierorazio Continued from Page 3

I know of companies that charge anywhere from $100 to $1,000 or more, for this service.

Usually, this sum can be applied towards the purchase of cabinets, and I wouldn’t recom-mend contracting with a firm that did not adhere to that policy. After all, a good design takes a great deal of time, effort and creativity, so why should they give this away for free?

An argument could be made that if you don’t like the design and/or estimate you’ve wasted your money. I don’t entirely disagree with this, and that’s why I recommend finding a firm with a minimum initial design fee. This smaller expense certainly does not compensate the designer for all the time he must spend cre-ating your dream kitchen, but it shows a com-mitment on your part, indicating that you are serious about the project.

Some firms have a staged design fee, which includes a minimum initial design charge. If, af-ter reviewing the design, you wish to pursue the project, they have a secondary fee (sometimes called a retainer) for additional work on the de-sign or releasing the drawings to you.

This seems to be an equitable compromise. The designer charges a minimal fee, confident that they will create an exciting design, within the budget that you specify. You get a chance to review the design and see how much the renova-tion will cost, before laying out a lot of money.

At that point, assuming the design fits your

budget, you have to ask yourself three ques-tions. The first is, do you like the design? It doesn’t have to be perfect yet, but it must show promise, and you have to be convinced that it can be modified to your satisfaction.

The second question is, do you like the company’s products? This includes the cabi-nets, counter tops and accessories.

The final question is, do you trust the de-signer and his support staff? If the design or de-signer is not to your liking, or the cost is out of line, you have the option of ending the relation-ship without incurring additional costs.

If you answered “yes” to the three ques-tions, you’re ready to move to the next step in a “staged design fee” program. If any of your answers were “no,” look for another firm.

Once you find the right company to work with, a design you love and a price you’re com-fortable with, you can succumb to your impuls-es. Don’t feel guilty. Spring home improvement has been ingrained into our genes for a thousand years and it will remain that way for a long time to come.

About the author: Paul Bookbinder, M.I.D., C.R., is president of DreamWork Kitchens, Inc. located in Mamaroneck. A Master of Design (Pratt Institute), and E.P.A. Certified Remod-eler, he is an advisor for Kitchen & Bath De-sign News. A member of the Advisory Panel of Professional Remodeler magazine and the Na-tional Kitchen and Bath Association, he can be reached for questions at 914-777-0437 or www.dreamworkkitchens.com, or at his blog, kitch en-insider.blogspot.com.

banners and party favors decorating a party area next to the 25 cent children rides. When asked if she would want her birthday party at Nathan’s, Julianna loudly said “yes.”

The restaurant was clean, the play area for the children was in tip-top shape which, in this day and age, that is a rarity. Bring sanitiz-ing wipes for the rides if you are germaphobic, but frankly, from what I could see, they were not necessary. The kids ran around, played and everyone had a good time. Michael’s mom even bought a $3 jar of Nathan’s pickles to take home.

The big game room in the back, now called SMILES, still exists, but my friend Michael and

I were too old, and Julianna and Gabriella too young, to play the games dotting the room, like the good old days.

As for the clam chowder, Grandpa Roth was kosher and clams, of course, are not, so, to this day, I cannot understand how he would eat the clam chowder. But hey, he enjoyed it, it gave me a fond memory to share with you and I guess in the grand scheme of things, that’s all that matters.

There was talk they were going to knock the Nathan’s building down and build a smaller one, but to date this has not happened. Let’s hope the powers that be keep this unique part of Yonkers history alive.

Nathan’s on Central Avenue. This, too, is Yonkers!

You can reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyon [email protected].

ard anyway. Again, an event that would change a life forever and, as Venture said, for the bet-ter.

Howard currently lives at the Yonkers YMCA and has volunteered his boxing talents as well as shared his big heart at YMCA for 17 years. Howard has been teaching on his own time for no money for the, “good feelings he gets helping the kids,” he said.

I believe big Jim does it because that’s just who he is. Howard could have vanished into obscurity after hurting his hand. Instead, he has chosen to quietly help at-risk youth and is a hid-den hero. Howard has affected boys and, yes, an occasional girl, who would’ve went down the wrong path had it not been for his guidance and support.

There are several who are on their way to boxing fame, like Tiger Tail and the Mexican Kid, who, like Venture, owe that thanks to How-ard their. I plan to catch up with these promising young men soon, at ringside, with Howard to see them in action and bring you more about this amazing man in the next installment.

For now, I would like to say to you; if you know someone like Howard, please, come for-ward. The world needs heroes.

Hidden heroes are people with rather or-dinary characteristics, like reliability and con-sistency, but are distinguished from others in that they are moved to take action based only on concern for others. Hidden heroes generally seek little, if any, recognition and measure their success by the impact of the actions on others rather than by the amount of recognition or thanks they get.

If you know anyone like this anyone at all, contact me at [email protected].

This, Too, is Yonkers Continued from Page 5

Hidden Heroes: Continued from Page 4

Kitchen & Bath Continued from Page 4


Advance Directives are vitally important documents which permit adults to make de-cisions regarding their health-care prior to losing their deci-sion making ability. I urge all readers to consider executing these documents.

Advance directives are documents that allow an indi-vidual to communicate their health care wishes for when they are unable to make the de-cisions on their own before they reach that stage. Most people know these documents as a Health Care Proxy or Living Will.

The Health Care Proxy is a document which allows an individual over 18 years of age to ap-point a person, called an agent, to make health care decisions for them if and only if that indi-vidual can longer make decisions on their own. Many times, this is because of an illness or in-competency.

The appointed agent can make health care decisions which are binding on all physicians in all health care facilities. The only limitation is regarding the withdrawal of artificial hydra-tion and nutrition, also called feeding tubes. An agent can only withdraw a feeding tube if it is a specified power listed in the Health Care Proxy. Moreover, whether or not a person wishes to have their organs donated must be specified in the Proxy as well.

A Living Will, which has no relation to a Last Will and Testament, is a document which

permits an individual to let their health care agent, appointed in their Proxy, know what medi-cal procedures they would or wouldn’t want.

Having an Advance Direc-tive is seen as so important be-cause, in 1991, Congress passed the Patient Self-Determination Act, which requires most hospi-tals, nursing homes, home care agencies and hospices to inform their patients about their right to execute these documents.

Currently, about 15 per-cent of all adults in the United States have a Health Care Ad-

vance Directive, with individuals in long term care communities having the highest usage.

These documents are vitally important for people to execute. If a person loses their decision making ability and hasn’t executed these docu-ments, they may be required to apply to the court for a Guardian, which is more expensive, less private and may have an unpredictable outcome.

For more information, visit www.health.state.ny.us/forms/doh-1430.pdf.

This article is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article shall be construed as legal advice or should be relied upon as such. Michael LaMagna is a partner at Timins & LaMagna, practicing social secu-rity, health care, elder, disability, veteran, trust, estates and general law in both New York and Connecticut. E-mail him at Mlamagna@tllawof fices.com or call him at 914-534-1048 for more information.

Hot Topics in Health Care

Michael LaMagna

Seniors and Health Care

Since its founding by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1888, Saint Joseph’s Medical Center has been meeting the health care needs of Yonkers and surrounding communities. Located in Southwest Yonkers, Saint Joseph's Medical Center consists of a 194-bed acute care teaching hospital and a 200-bed nursing home and features comprehensive out-patient programs. It is also a sponsor of low-income senior housing for frail elderly.

In response to new developments in medicine and the needs of the community, Saint Joseph’s has grown dramatically over the years into a modern, progressive medical center.

Today, Saint Joseph’s offers:s An expanded Ambulatory Surgery Centers On-site 64 slice spiral CT Scanner and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) s Dedicated hospital-based Inpatient Renal Dialysis Servicess A Hospital-based Nursing Homes One of the busiest Emergency Services in Westchester Countys A Designated Stroke Centers Comprehensive Mental Health Servicess A Family Health Center to provide affordable primary cares Oncology Servicess Geriatrics Services and 165 units of Senior Housings A State-of-the-art Department of Surgery for ambulatory, laser and laparo-scopic surgery, micro-neurosurgery for back and neck compression pain, and Holmium laser and lithotripsy for treating kidney stoness Pain Managements The only accredited Family Medicine Residency Program in Westchesters Highly advanced diagnostic services, including Cardiology, Radiology and Laboratories, as well as a full range of rehabilitative therapiess Women’s Health Services, including accredited low-dose mammographys Patient Representatives and Pastoral Care for spiritual and emotional support

For more information, call 914-378-7000 or visit www.saintjosephs.org.

Saint Joseph’s Medical Center 127 South Broadway s Yonkers, New York 10701

55Plus, the Yonkers Partnership for Elderly and South West Livable Community Connec-tions once again invite you to their second series of free monthly educational sessions, “Feel-ing Fabulous After Fifty: Secrets You Want To Know,” returning on March 21.

The series of four sessions, held the third Monday of every month, was inspired by the unique factors that may affect wellness in adults over 50. If you are looking for tips about stay-ing healthy, remaining active and other informa-tion on how to remain fabulous after 50, come March 21 at 6 p.m. to the Grinton Will Library

in Yonkers.Rheumatologist Dr. David Lans will dis-

cuss arthritis, joint pain and treatment options for helping you to live an active lifestyle. It is never too late to live a healthier lifestyle, even if you are experiencing age related changes or have a chronic illness.

Bring a friend, enjoy light, healthy refresh-ments, ask questions and share your own aging well secrets if you care to. For more informa-tion or to register, call 914-377-6806. Bring a non-perishable food donation for a local food pantry.

AARP tax counselors will be at many loca-tions throughout Westchester from February 1 to April 18 to help prepare your 2010 tax returns.

Call 1-888-227-7669 or 211 and ask for the nearest AARP TaxAide location. Bring last year’s tax return, all 2010 tax related documents and Social Security notices so we can properly complete your tax returns.

We e-file returns for a quick refund. We as-sist all taxpayers, not just seniors. We will also be available to answer your tax related ques-tions.

We served more than 5,000 people in Westchester last year. If you have any questions, call 914-714-2015.

For more than a decade, Ida Cavaliere, 74, has been living with and caring for her 68-year-old sister, Anna Lisi, in her Yonkers home.

Cavaliere and her husband, Frank, 81, have been married for 52 years. For the last 10 years, the couple have been caregivers for Lisi, who has a variety of health issues that prevent her from living independently. Lisi’s husband died 10 years ago and, since, then she has moved in with her sister and brother in law.

Cavaliere’s daily chores include cooking, cleaning and shopping for her and her husband as well as for Lisi. At times, the responsibili-ties and inherent chores are both physically and mentally exhausting.

This March, the Cavalieres took a month-long vacation in Florida. They left Lisi in a Re-spite program at Jewish Home Lifecare Sarah Neuman Center, where both her health and so-cial needs are met by a staff of professionals, in-cluding doctors, nurses, pharmacists, nutrition-ists, social workers, physical, occupational and recreational therapists, nursing assistants and housekeepers.

For the Cavalieres, the change of scenery and relief from caregiving has been “absolutely wonderful. For a month, my husband and I can do whatever we want, whenever we want; go to a movie, eat out or just visit with friends with-out feeling guilty about leaving my sister home alone,” said Cavaliere. “It’s such a sense of free-dom from year-round caregiving for both my

husband and I, and a tremendous relief to know that Anna’s well taken care of.”

Lisi is also a client in Sarah Neuman’s Adult Day Care program. She came to the Adult Day center with her husband in January of 2001, when both had health issues that needed con-stant monitoring. The Adult Day medical model seven-day-a-week program provides round-trip wheelchair accessible transportation, breakfast and lunch and health-monitoring by the profes-sional staff, as well as exercise, outings and so-cialization with others in the program.

According to Lisi, she feels well cared for in both Respite care and Adult Day care.

“I love the program and the people. They’re very good to me. They help me, and I try to help them. In the Adult Day program I try to help clean up in the kitchen and sometimes try to help with the cooking,” said Lisi. “And I love the rec-reation programs, bingo, games, Wii; they’re all good for me and keep me busy and active.”

In response to Lisi’s praise for the pro-grams, her sister says, “The fact that Anna likes the program makes me feel good that she’s there, for both our sakes.”

For additional information on the Jewish Home Lifecare Sarah Neuman Respite program, call Director Ann Frolova at 914-777-5806, or 914 777-5800. For information on Jewish Home Lifecare’s Adult Day Programs in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester, call Connections at 800-544-0304.

Feeling Fabulous After Fifty:Secrets You Want To Know Free Tax Preparation

Sarah Neuman Center’s RespiteProgram Provides Caregiver Relief

More than 1,300 charities can use the stuff that’s cluttering your home. It’s time to throw open the windows, spruce up your home, and get rid of clutter, the emotionally gratifying way — donate things you no longer need to causes in your neighborhood or around the country.

The Giving Effect (www.thegivingeffect.com) is a new Web site that makes it easy to dis-cover who needs your stuff. Donors browse the site by needs, location, or categories to find a cause, then complete a simple form to arrange a pickup, drop off, or shipment.

Participating organizations include Opera-tion Kid Equip, a non-profit in Royal Oak, Michi-gan that provides school supplies, toiletries and food to tens-of-thousands of kids in need, The American Cancer Society and Habitat for Hu-manity locations across the country. Hundreds of animal shelters have also listed their needs with The Giving Effect.

These organizations can use almost anything you can spare, from clothes, food and books to cleaning supplies and lumber. Following your do-nation, the site generates an easily shareable web page that describes your gift and who it helped. By sharing the page, donors inspire others to give and thus increase the impact of their donation.

Spring cleaning may be a chore, but if you’re doing it for a good cause it will leave you feeling great!

The Giving Effect uses social media to help donors discover and connect with organizations that need items such as clothes, shoes and food. It’s the first Web site to create stories around each in-kind donation that can be easily shared online to inspire others to give.

The goal is to create a national movement to get food, gently-used items, and more to people in need. The Giving Effect is headquartered in Brooklyn.

Spring Cleaning Can MakeYou Happier this Year


NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FORFIVE-YEAR AGENCY PLAN FOR FISCAL YEARS 2011 -2015ANDANNUAL PLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011

The Authority will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday April 5, 2011 to discuss and accept comments on its proposed Five Year Agency Plan for Fiscal Years 2011-2015 and the Annual Agency Plan for Fiscal Year 2011 and proposed revisions to the lease. A draft copy of the proposed submission will be available at the Office of The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers, Augustine J. Shea Administration Building, 1511 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers, New York beginning Wednesday February 16, 2011 from 8:30am until 4:30pm weekdays. The public hearing will be held at Curran Court – Building #4 at 2:00pm in the Community Room and 6:00pm at Ross F. Calcagno Homes (NY3-5), 10 Brook Street -Yonkers, NY in the Gymnasium. The public hearing is open to all interested parties. Residents are encouraged to select a spokesperson to present their comments at the public hearing. Participants in the public hearing should present their comments orally and in writing. Persons wishing to speak at the public hearing will be limited to five (5) minutes each. A sign up sheet for speakers will be available at the start of the public hearing. A summary of the issues brought up in the public hearing and the Authority’s response will be made available for review by interested parties at the Augustine J. Shea Administration Building, 1511 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers, New York.

The Municipal Housing Authority does not discriminate in admission to or access to or participation in its federally assisted programs and activities. Provisions will be made for persons who are handicapped so that they may fully participate if they so choose. Requests for sign language interpreter must be made to the Authority by 4:00 pm on Tuesday March 29, 2011. Request must be directed to Joseph Shuldiner Executive Director, The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers, 1511 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers, New York 10710, telephone number (914) 793-8400.

THE MUNICIPAL HOUSING AUTHORITYFOR THE CITY OF YONKERS

JOSEPH SHULDINER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dated: Thursday March 3, 2011

Legal NoticesLEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of Emer-gency Medicine Connec-tion PLLC. Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/8/2010. Office location: WESTCHESTER. SSNY designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Margherita Chirurgi, 6 East-way, Hartsdale, NY 10530. Purpose: Medicine.

#6179 3/4 - 4/8

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of Metis Capital Management, LLC. Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/19/2011. Office location: WESTCHESTER. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Metis Capi-tal Management 411 Theo-dore Fremd Avenue Ste 206, Rye, NY 10580. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6180 3/18 - 4/22

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of Pa-gano Senior Care, LLC Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 12-17-10. Office location: Westchester. The street ad-dress is: 378 Midland Ave, Yonkers, NY 10704. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process served to: United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave., Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6174 2/25 – 4/1

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of Play-time Partners, LLC Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/26/11. Office location: Westchester. The street ad-dress is: 5 Sussex Avenue, Bronxville NY 10708 SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process served to: Playtime Partners, LLC, 5 Sussex Av-enue, Bronxville NY 10708. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6176 2/25 – 4/1

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of East Coast Beer Productions LLC Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/6/11. Office location: Westchester. The street address is: #191 333 Mamaroneck Ave. White Plains, NY 10605. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process served to: John J. Bello, #191 333 Mamaroneck Ave. White Plains, NY 10605. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6175 2/25 – 4/1

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of BOT-TOMS UP PROMOTIONS LLC Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/22/2011. Office location: WESTCHESTER. The street address is: 44 Kil-men Road, Larchmont, NY 10538. SSNY has been des-ignated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process served to: BOT-TOMS UP PROMOTIONS LLC, 44 Kilmen Road, Larch-mont, NY 10538. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6178 3/4 - 4/8

By Joel J. Sprayregen

LEGAL NOTICE

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF KARE FAMILY AND CHILDREN SERVICES, LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 01/21/11. Office location: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC, 24 S 11th Ave, Mount Vernon NY 10550 Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

#6173 2/18 – 3/25

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of BOW-FRAN, LLC Arts. Of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/17/10. Office location: Northern Westchester County. The street address is: 24 North Greeley Avenue, Suite 6, Chappaqua, NY 10514. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process served to: Fran Levin Bowman,10440 shaker drive, suite 108, Columbia, Md., 21046. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6172 2/11 - 3/18

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of DCW ADVISORS LLC. Arts. Of Org. filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on February 9, 2011. Office lo-cation: Westchester County. The street address is: 84 Third Street, Pelham NY 10803. SSNY has been des-ignated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process served to: DCW ADVISORS LLC, 84 Third Street, Pelham, NY 10803. Purpose: any lawful act.

#6177 3/4 – 4/8

My Hour-Long ConferenceWith President Obama

By Joel J. SprayregenEarly this month, I spent an hour with Presi-

dent Barack Obama in the White House in a con-ference on American foreign policy in the Middle East. I joined a delegation of leaders of Jewish or-ganizations.

Readers of “A World View” know that I am skeptical of many aspects of Obama’s policies. Sit-ting around a table with the President in free give-and-take in the formal dining room provided a rare opportunity to hear directly from the leader of the Free World.

Numerous press reports, not all of them ac-curate, have been published about our meeting. Since we agreed not to quote the President directly, I shall indicate what, to me, seemed positive and what seemed problematic.

The White House press release correctly re-ported that Obama reiterated “America’s unshake-able support for Israel’s security.” This is backed up by Obama’s maintaining Israel’s strategic quali-tative edge in a dangerous neighborhood.

Obama spoke of his affinity with Ameri-can Jews based on shared core values of justice, freedom and lively debate. I reacted positively to Obama’s assertion that the US has no better friend in the world than Israel. Israel supports the U.S. more than any other country in voting at the United Nations.

Obama said that neither the U.S. nor the U.N. should impose a solution, but that a peace deal should be hammered out between Israel and the Palestinians in tough, serious negotiations in which each side should invest in the other’s successes.

Obama’s statements of support for Israel were expressed with seeming earnestness and warmth that one would expect from a master communica-tor.

What I Heard That Was ProblematicWhat did I hear that was problematic? Most

troublesome was Obama’s view that Israeli-Pales-tinian peace will turn the entire region against Iran. This seems a facile excuse for shifting onto Israel responsibility for Obama’s major foreign policy challenge, i.e., making good his promise that it is “unacceptable” for Iran to possess nuclear weap-ons.

The danger to American interests of Iran’s going nuclear exists without regard to Israel. The Arab countries understand this. Indeed, a nuclear-armed Iran would motivate neighboring countries to develop their own nuclear weapons, further de-stabilizing the region.

I also found problematic Obama’s view of the likelihood of success of peace negotiations. Obama feels that Palestinian President Abbas was close to finalizing agreement with ex-Israeli Prime Minister Olmert. He seems confident that Abbas sees such a deal as his legacy to future generations.

Obama argued that Palestinians must be made to feel that Israel is as serious about giving up ter-ritory to allow creation of a contiguous Palestin-ian state as it is about its own security, and Israelis must see that Abbas can deliver on issues like the “right of return.” These assertions appear inconsis-tent with reality.

If Abbas wanted to negotiate, he would not have insisted as a pre-condition on a total settle-ment freeze, a demand even Arafat did not present. Obama, of course, bears blame for giving Abbas this excuse. But Israelis recently told me there is a de facto settlement freeze, and Abbas still will not negotiate.

Palestinian Strategy RunsCounter to Obama’s

It is becoming apparent that the Palestinian strategy is to try to get the U.N. General Assem-bly, with its lopsided Muslim majority, to declare

a Palestinian state. The veto — which the U.S. recently used to block an anti-Israel resolution in the Security Council — is not available in the As-sembly. I believe it is evident that the politically weak Abbas, whose government cannot even hold an election although its term has expired, does not want to negotiate.

As to the “right of return” mentioned by Obama — i.e., the demand that Israel absorb four million descendants of Palestinians who fled dur-ing the 1948 war forced upon Israel to destroy the Jewish state authorized by the U.N — my own ex-perience informs that the weak Abbas cannot com-promise this issue.

My conclusion is based on three long meet-ings with the powerful Arafat which I participated in between 1995 and 1998. It was clear that Arafat believed he would be assassinated by the “refu-gees” in Lebanon if he compromised this “right.” The word assassin was invented in Lebanon.

A singular omission in Obama’s presentation was his ignoring Hamas, the terrorist Iranian proxy which rules Gaza. Hamas’s charter explicitly calls for annihilation of Israel.

One of the reasons Abbas will not hold elec-tions is his fear that Hamas would win elections in the West Bank, as it did in Gaza. Assuming the sincerity of everything Obama said, it is difficult to see how one creates a Palestinian state living in peace while Hamas retains power. Political chang-es in Egypt are apt to further empower Hamas.

Obama was hopeful about changes in the Arab world, but acknowledged that no one knew where they will end. Obama urged that his Administra-tion’s intentions about supporting Israel should never be questioned. He concluded that he wants nothing more than to see an Israel that is fully em-braced by its neighbors.Haunted by Failure of an Earlier President

All I invest in advocacy for Israel is haunted by remembrance of the powerlessness of the gen-eration of my father (who personified the essence of tzedakah, which should not be diminished in translation to “charity,” but that is another story) to persuade an American president to save European Jews from extermination.

Jewish leaders of my Father’s generation trusted completely in President Roosevelt. That type of error will not be replicated. Our meeting with Obama represented a seismic improvement over a meeting he convened in 2009 where a fringe leftist organization, secretly funded by George So-ros, was used as a counterweight to the organized Jewish community. Obama understands his foreign policy will be scrutinized in 2012.

Obama implored us never to question his in-tentions. I see little need to do so at this time, but I worry about what he will do in a second term. Obama’s declarations of solidarity must be mea-sured against his quick abandonment of Mubarak and his abdicating help for the Libyan people to “multilateral” institutions, meaning that Russia, China or Turkey can veto U.S. action.

I also learned from my father how impor-tant back-up is. After the memorable meeting at the White House, our delegation hastened to the Capital Building. There, we received bi-partisan assurances of support for Israel’s security from republican Speaker John Boehner and republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, as well as Minority Rep. Steny Hoyer.

The stakes are high. And the Middle East re-mains a complex dangerous region, perhaps more complex than Obama knows. Thus, I left Washing-ton somewhat reassured by hearing words of sup-port for Israel’s security voiced by leaders of the policy-making branches of our government.

But I find no reason to relax vigilance.

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ANNOUNCEMENTSApril 21 - Green Design Expo announces

the opening of its flagship location with “Sus-tainable Sourcing from an educated point of view.” GDE offers the easiest, most cost effec-tive means of responsible building and re-mod-eling and the lifestyle products make great gifts, as well as instilling a sense of personal involve-ment in more eco-friendly ways. Weekly classes covering various topics are given on site (see the website www.greendesignexpolnet for details). GDE opened Feb. 21; Grand Opening and Rib-bon Cutting scheduled for April 21. Located 640 Central Park Ave, Scarsdale 10583; 914-902-5305; fax 9149-202-3685.

ART AND CRAFTSApril-May -Spring Crafts at Lyndhurst

- one-of-a-kind and limited edition jewelry, fashion and accessories, furniture, home décor pieces, sculptural work in ceramics, glass, metal, painting, photography, wood, mixed media, ex-panded food section, specialty foods, children’s activities; more than 250 artists displaying and selling their works; held rain or shine; NO DOGS ALLOWED; admission $10 general per person, $9 adults, $4 for children 6-16; children under 6 admitted free; located ½ mile south of Tappan Zee Bridge toll plaza of NYS Thruway, Rte 9, Tarrytown, free parking onsite, complimentary shuttle buses for offsite parking; Friday 10am to 5pm; Saturday, 10am to 6pm; Sunday 10am to 5pm.

BENEFITS/FUNDRAISERSMarch - South Salem Presbyterian Church

will present renowned organist Anthony New-man in concert March 20 at 4:00pm, performing Bach preludes and fugues written for the organ; the concert will benefit the South Salem Presby-terian Church; program will include the Prelude and Fugue in A and the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C. The final concert in the series will be held on May 13th at Christ Church Episcopal Church in Greenwich, CT. South Salem Pres-byterian Church is located at 111 Spring Street in South Salem. Tickets are $20 at the door. St. Matthew’s Church is located at 382 Cantitoe Street in Bedford.

March 27 - Temple Israel of New Rochelle presents A Family Concert to help clothe chil-dren in need in Westchester with singer Story-teller and Port Chester native Lou Del Bianco; 1:00- to 2:30pm; proceeds benefit The Sharing Shelf of Family Services of Westchester, that col-lects new and gently used clothing for children in need; tickets $12 in advance, $15 at the door; order at [email protected] or call 914-937-2320 ext. 116; contact Deborah Blatt at [email protected] or call 914-937-2320 ext. 148; Temple Israel of new Rochelle is at 1000 Pine-brook Blvd.

April 10 - Gilda’s Club Westchester will host its 12th annual “A Cappella Extravaganza” with A Cappella groups from Briarcliff, Bronxville, Hor-ace Greeley, John Jay, Scarsdale and Mamaron-eck high schools, and The Master’s School, The Ursuline School and Rye Country Day School. Manhattanville College’s group, “Manhattan-

ville Sound” will be judging the competition and performing. The Gilda’s Club Westchester Youth Committee organized this event. All proceeds benefit Gilda’s Club Westchester. Tickets are $5.00 for students; $10.00 for adults. The event will be held at The Masters School, 49 Clinton Avenue, Dobbs Ferry, NY at 2:00 PM. Contact Dawn Dankner-Rosen, DDR Public Relations, 914-241-2910; Jen Scully, Children & Families Manager, Gilda’s Club Westchester, 914-644-8844.

April 13 - HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America) Westchester Chapter will be holding couple of fundraiser events at California Pizza Kitchen at 365 Central Park Ave., in Scarsdale to benefit the Blair & Anita Mazin Scholarship Fund. The event is for all day either by dining in and/or take out. The Scholarship Fund helps to-wards providing funding for two deaf or hard of hearing college bound students. The scholarship winners will be announced at the June general meeting. For more information on the fundrais-ing event with CPK and to get a copy of the flyer, please contact Debbie Dolgin Wolfe at [email protected]. You must bring the flyer with you for the Chapter to receive their donation.

CAMPSSummer 2011 - The Westchester Sandbox

Theatre’s Summer At The Sandbox is a sum-mer day camp that provides an exciting array of fun summer activities and a comprehensive performing arts curriculum for performers ages 7-13. Campers will have a great time honing their skills in acting, singing, dance and creative writing. Campers will also spend several days offsite swimming, hiking, and even taking a trip to the Bronx Zoo. Camp runs Monday thru Fri-day, 9am-3pm, July 11-July 29. The Westchester Sandbox Theatre is located at 931c East Boston Post Road in Mamaroneck. For more informa-tion or to register, call 914.630.0804.

COUNTY PARKS PROGRAMSMarch 26 - Cranberry Lake Preserve, Old

Orchard Street, North White Plains, (914) 428-1005 - No Matches Allowed! 1 pm. Learn how to make a fire without using matches or a lighter. Once the fire is blazing, enjoy S’mores by the fire. For ages 6 and up.

March 26 - Croton Point Nature Center, Croton Point Park, Croton-on-Hudson, (914) 862-5297 - Setting Up Your Summer Lunch and Conversation at noon. Bring lunch and plan a “staycation:” local travel with alternate trans-portation on your vacation. Get information and ideas from Westchester’s travel experts. Dessert provided.

March 26 - Marshlands Conservancy, Bos-ton Post Road, Rye, (914) 835-4466 - Shoreline Clean-up in Preparation for Nesting Ospreys 1 to 3pm Bring work gloves and help clean up the beautiful shoreline along the salt marsh.

March 26- Read Wildlife Sanctuary, Play-land Park, Rye, (914) 967-8720 - Wild Tea Par-ty 1pm. A taste of teas brewed from such wild plants as sweetfern, sassafras, goldenrod and more, along with information on their culinary, medicinal and ceremonial uses. For ages 12 and

up.March 26 - Trailside Nature Museum at

Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Routes 35 and 121, Cross River, (914) 864-7322 - Sugaring Off Party 1pm. Celebrate the end of another sugar-ing season with tasting, music and more. Co-sponsored by Friends of Trailside.

March 27 - Marshlands Conservancy, Boston Post Road, Rye, (914) 835-4466. Shells by the Shore at 2pm. Learn about and view the many creatures that inhabit the seashells found along the beach.

DANCE & MUSIC, REEL & STAGEMarch - Jacob Burns Film Center – Jew-

ish Film Festival - Little Rose; The Infidel; Vidal Sassoon: The Move; Grace Paley: Collected Shorts; Eicemann’s End: Love, Betrayal, Death; The Human Resources Manager; Precious Life; Norman Mailer: The American; call for dates, times, tickets; 914-747-5555; 405 Manville Rd, Pleasantville; www.burnsfilmcenter.org.

March 26 - Greenburgh Nature Center- Water, Beautiful Water! Puppet Show with Jill Liflander and her creative side-kicks; for ages 2 to 7; members $2, nonmembers $6 per person; preregistration required; 99 Dromore Ave, Scars-dale; 914-723-3470; www.greenburghnaturecen-ter.org.

March 20 - Temple Israel Center - 19th An-nual Opera Concert: From the Met to Broadway; opera and show tunes performed by leading art-ists and some stars of the Metropolitan Opera; 7:00pm; $50 general admission $36 seniors and students; 280 Old Mamaroneck Road, White Plains 914-948-2800 ext. 1112; www.templeis-raelcenter.org

March 23- Downtown Music at Grace - Metropolitan Masters - Laura Hamilton, violin-ist and principal associate concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; was a member of Chicago Symphony Orchestra and performed as concerto soloist under Sir Georg Solti; has per-formed with NJ Symphony as Principal Second Viollin; joined the Met in 1986, appointed Prin-cipal Associate Concertmaster in 1999; she will play a program of personal favorites. Concert at 12:10pm at Grace Church, intersection of Mama-roneck Ave and Main St, White Plains; free. For more information about Downtown Music or the March concerts, please visit our web site: www.DTMusic.org or call (914) 248-1112.

March 23 - Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway - The Ladies of Comedy Extravaganza with comediennes Jessica Kirson, Arden Myrin, Lisa DeLarios, first-ever “Ladies of Comedy Night” at 7:00pm in Good Time Room; free admissionfor Club members, cover charge for non-members $15 (signing up for Empire Club membership is free and easy visit Promotions Booth on first floor of the Gotham Palace for in-formation). Empire City Casino at Yonkers Race-way is located at 810 Yonkers Avenue (at Cen-tral Avenue) in Yonkers, New York, Westchester County, (I-87 to Exit 2). Empire City Casino is open seven days a week from 10:00 AM to 2:00 AM. For more information call 914.968.4200 or log onto www.empirecitygaming.com

April - Taconic Opera - presents “The Pearl Fishers”, Bizet’s opera of an ancient tribe of pearl divers in Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka), a story of betrayal, forgiveness, sacrifice and love; performed in French with translations above the stage (supertitles); at Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce St, Yorktown Hgts, April 15 and 16 at 8pm and April 17 at 2pm; single ticket prices $32 to $42 with $9 discount for seniors and students; information, tickets, directions 914-245-3415 or email [email protected] or visit www.taconicopera.org.

April - Tarrytown Music Hall- 4/1 David Bromberg Big Band 8pm; 4/8 Dave Mason 8pm; 4/9 Spyro Gyra 8pm; 4/10 Orla Fallon 7pm; 13 Main Street, Tarrytown, NY 10591; www.tarry-townmusichall.org or 877-840-0457; www.tarry-townmusichall.org.

April - Westchester Broadway Theatre -4/5 Dancesport Extravaganza, national and in-ternational gold medal winners will dazzle with their routines; $75pp plus tax, 6:15 dinner, 8pm show. 4/12 Simply Diamond: A Tribute to Neil Diamond; $75pp plus tax; 6:15dinner, 8pm show. Call (914)-592-2222; www.BroadwayTheatre.com. Coming to WBT Mainstage: Singin’ In The Rain 3/24/11 - 6/12/11; Seussical The Musical 6/16/11 -7/31/11; Altar Boyz 8/4 - 9/18/11; My Fair Lady 9/22/11-11/27/11. WBT, 1 Broadway Plaza, Elmsford 10523.

April 2 - Westchester Jazz Orchestra - 8:00pm, WJO will explore the works of pianist Thelonious Monk, a stunning composer who wrote close to 100 enduringly beautiful tunes, and Gerry Mulligan, an extraordinary baritone saxophonist and superlative composer/arranger. Irvington Town Hall Theater, 85 Main Street, Irvington,NY. Reserved seating tickets $35 adults/$30 seniors/$10 students. www.westjaz-zorch.org, Theater box office: 914-591-6602; WJO 914-861-9100

April 10 - Hudson Chorale is offering music lovers a rare opportunity to experience chamber music as it was meant to be heard: in a gracious,

private setting. Starting at 3:00 pm, the chorus will hold its annual fundraiser in an historic home. The program will include a piano trio by Brahms, selected baroque works performed by David Baranowski, and friends. In addition, enjoy wine, hors d’oeuvres and pleasant conver-sation before and after the musical presentation; also a Silent Auction of quality items and servic-es. Seating for the concert is limited and reserva-tions are required. The event will take place in Ossining; location and directions provided to all those who purchase tickets. Admission is $75. Tickets only in advance: call (914) 462-3212 or email [email protected]. Visit the chorus website: www.hudsonchorale.org.

EDUCATION/INSTRUCTIONOngoing - The Westchester Sandbox The-

atre (931c E. Boston Post Rd, Mamaroneck) is now registering for its spring musical theatre classes for young performers! Join professional teachers in a nurturing environment and become a better actor, singer and dancer. Classes meet on Mondays: 4-5:30 for K-3rd grade, 5:30-7:00 for 4th-6th grade, and 7:00-8:30 for 7th-12th grade. This is a 12 week program with a showcase per-formance at the end of the semester. Fee is $300. For more information or to register, call 914-630-0804.

HEALTH PROGRAMS, SERVICES, SUP-PORT

March - Northern Westchester Hospital - 3/23 Caregiver Support Group, 9:30 to 10:30am; program offers emotional support, organization assistance to help caregivers manage their daily lives while dealing with the illness of a loved one during hospitalization or treatment; free program co-sponsored by Northern Westchester Hospital and Westchester Jewish Community Services, Family Caregiver Network. At the Ken Hamilton Caregivers Center at NWH, 1st floor, main lobby. Registration required. 914-242-8128. 3/26 - One Day Childbirth Class, 9am to 5pm. Prepares cou-ples for the birth of their first child. $200 per cou-ple, includes refreshments and lunch. To register, call 914-666-1292. 3/29 Siblings Class and Tour, 3:30 to 4:30pm. Class prepares children ages 2 and up for birth of a new brother or sister; class includes video, lessons diaper changing, tour of hospital room where mom will stay, peek at the nursery. Snack included, $10 per family, NWH Conference Center, register 914-666-1369.

April 7 - Red Cross Life Saving Course is be-ing offered at The Banksville Community House, 12 Banksville Road, Greenwich, CT 06831 on Thursday, April 7th from 7:00 to 10:30pm. Learn how to perform CPR, care for a choking victim and how to use an automated external defibrilla-tor (AED). There is a $45 charge per participant. To register, go online to [email protected]. For more information please call 203-622-9597.

LECTURES, MEETING, SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS

April 4 - Hearing Loss Association of America Westchester Chapter - Saturday, April 2 at 2:00pm. Topic: “What We (People With Hearing Loss) Can Expect In The Workplace”; guest speaker is John Herrion, director, Disabil-ity Rights, NYS Div. Of Human Rights. At New York School for the Deaf, 555 Knollwood Road, White Plains 10603.; Light refreshments served; assistive listening devices always available, live CART captioning; friends and family invited; website is www.hlaawestchester.org. Informa-tion, email Debbie Dolgin Wolfe at [email protected] or phone 845-368-0968.

April 4 - The Greenwich Antiques Society lecture by Jason Busch “Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs 1851-1939”; 1:00 lecture, refreshments to fol-low; $20 non-members; reservations: Mary Heist 203-637-0359 or Mary Kay Olson 914-631-9439;; The Bruce Museum, One Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT

NATURE PROGRAMSNow thru October 2 - Greenburgh Nature

Center - The Way of Water: Westchester Water-sheds; fee included with general admission; free for members and children under 2; $7 for adults, $6 for seniors/students. 99 Dromore Rd, Scars-dale; www.greenburghnaturecenter.org; 723-3470

REUNIONSMay - The Teaneck High School, Teaneck,

NJ, Class of 1961 will be celebrating its 50th class reunion the weekend of May 20th through the 22nd at the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe in Teaneck, NJ. There will be an informal gathering at the hotel Friday evening as classmates register. Registration will continue on Saturday, followed by a tour of the high school in the afternoon. The main event, a dinner dance in the main hall of the Marriott will be held Saturday evening. We conclude the weekend on Sunday morning with a brunch at the hotel. For reunion details and to register, log onto www.teaneckhs61.com. Or call Barbara Singer Schwartz at 201-967-7855 or Sharon McGowen Stoll at 201-391-3229.

Community Calendar

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Spring Coed VolleyballTournament at County Center

Politics over Public Purpose

Registration is now open for the spring Westchester County Coed Volleyball Tourna-ment, to be held on April 4 and 5 from 7 to 11 p.m. each night, at the Westchester County Cen-ter in White Plains.

The tournament is open to men and women, 18 years of age and older, who are members of organized teams, such as corporations, clubs, recreation centers or local Ys. The tournament will be played in Round Robin format on Mon-day to determine the ranking of each team, with a double-elimination tournament for the cham-

pionship round on Tuesday.The tournament will be played in two levels

of competition: recreation and power recreation. Awards will be given to the winning teams and runners-up in each division.

Fee is $195 per team, with a limit of 20 teams. Deadline for registration is Wednesday, March 30. The Westchester County Center is located at 198 Central Avenue in White Plains. Parking is $5. Go to www.westchestergov.com to download an application, or to receive an en-try form by mail, call 914-328-1542.

By Chuck Lesnick, Yonkers City Council President

Recently, the mayor delivered his final State of the City Address that concluded with a condemnation of those whom he described as misusing politics and putting, “politics over pur-pose.” He stated, “Politics over purpose allows some elected officials to place their personal agendas ahead of the people’s agenda.”

Sadly, the mayor and his staff are clearly incapable of following their own advice.

Hopefully, most of you already know about the concert taking place at Sarah Lawrence College this Sunday, featuring the Westchester Symphonic Winds and our Yonkers Public School students and teachers as they showcase their musical and artistic talents.

The brainchild of a Yonkers music teacher who requested the assistance of my office to make this concert a reality and draw attention to the pending budget cuts to our performing arts programs, the continued funding of art and mu-sic in our schools has been a longstanding con-cern of mine and I was happy to assist in what-ever way necessary to make this event happen.

After several planning meetings over the past few weeks, one of my college interns cre-ated an attractive promotional flyer — with in-put from all involved parties — that began to

circulate.It came to my attention just this afternoon

(Tuesday), that the Mayor’s Office instructed the city’s corporation counsel to inform the Yonkers School Superintendent that I was “misusing” the city’s seal by placing it on the flyer, as it was not an “officially sanctioned event.”

That is… officially sanctioned by the may-or. This action immediately halted the process and caused confusion to all involved in the plan-ning for an event that is to take place only a few days from today.

At a meeting with the mayor this afternoon, he, his deputy mayor and his chief of staff con-firmed, angrily, what was at the heart of the issue — they objected to my name being on the flyer! Politics over purpose?

Our students deserve to be heard and I will not do anything to stand in their way. To ensure that this concert continues as planned and with the Superintendent’s continued backing, I have removed my name and the city seal from the fly-er. This concert is about supporting a fundamen-tal, well-rounded education for our children, not any person.

It is unfortunate that the mayor lacks the backbone to believe and act in accordance with what he preaches. Politics over purpose, right, Mayor?

nizations. She has written a grant application to fund a vegetable garden at Family School 32 and has always stressed the importance of civic en-gagement inside and outside of the classroom.

Currently, Brezler runs an after school pro-gram called “Tackling Environmental Issues” that has exposed students to important environmental policies that directly affect residents of the city.

“We can’t ignore the work that our teachers, firefighters, police and DPW workers do for our city,” Brezler said. “We make sure that your kids are safe and well educated. It’s vital to give our children, who are the future of Yonkers, a good education and a reason for staying here.”

“We are the foundation of this city and make our city work. If you overstretch that rubber band, it will break,” said Brezler, who is completing her second Masters Degree. “I fell in love with teach-ing and wanted to get into the classrooms. But I’m making $32,000 per year, and a lot of city workers are like me; we aren’t making a fortune but we love our jobs.

“While there are some top tiered salary em-ployees, the unions have been leaned on already and have tightened their belts as far as they can go,” said Brezler who comes from a proud family of public servants.

Brezler also spoke about development and jobs at her kick off.

“This site [Stewart Stamping] represents potential for growth and development within our community. Yonkers needs to bring back long-term jobs and rebuild our city, neighborhood by neighborhood. Making sure that the citizens of Yonkers are employed should be the number one focus of the city’s elected officials.

“Clearly the steps taken by previous admin-istrations have not yielded the desired outcome — it’s time for elected officials to take a different approach to job creation and economic develop-ment. It’s time for elected officials to do more than attend ribbon cuttings, ground breakings and

other photo-ops and focus on the long-term plan-ning that will get us to our goal.

“We need to encourage development that is done in a smart way, which is friendly to our wa-terfront and inviting to people. They won’t come because we look like everyone else.”

Another big issue for Brezler is the role of the residents and community organizations in helping solve Yonkers problems.

“It’s imperative that we start being more civically minded. We have to take more value in our responsibility to be active participants in our government. I want to help successful community organizations like Groundwork Hudson Valley, Beczak, the Nepperhan Community Center and the Ukaranian and Polish centers grow their rela-tions and entice them to support each other and to act as a network to help our government ser-vices.”

Brezler, who has lived in Yonkers for 11 years and who has served as a Democratic District Leader since 2003, is the only announced Demo-crat in the race. Republicans Mike Breen and Joe Crotty already announced, and a third Republi-can, Michael Cerrato, set to announce later this month. These five will be in the race to succeed Councilman John Murtagh, who is term limited and who is running for Mayor.

“Vote for me because of my policy, not my party. Lets have an open dialogue; I want to know what you are thinking.”

Brezler is making her first run for public of-fice, but has always known that she wanted to take this step.

“I’ve been running since I was in Kinder-garten, I’ve always wanted to run and this is the perfect time because the seat is term limited and I am the only Democrat in the race,” she said. “Yonkers is a part of me, and I have grasp of the budget struggles we have, and have the best mind for policy making.

“This is my community and I want to serve so that when I speak on the floor of the council chamber, I am reflecting the concerns as well as the hopes and aspirations of each of us. That’s why I’m running.”

Katherine Brezler: Continued from Page 1

completion, with construction crews working to build “a village” of retail, entertainment and residential options. Condo units are already be-ing sold, and tenants are signing leases for the retail portion. A targeted opening this year is still a possibility, and Yonkers Rising will be visiting Ridge Hill in the weeks to come for a closer look at a positive development story;

• 66 Main and Hudson Park — while these two projects were completed before the reces-sion, both have been able to thrive and attract new residents and revenues for the city. The second portion of Hudson Park, is close to fully rented. And the developers of 66 Main, Metro Partners, LLC, have proposed a second residen-tial project, an eco-friendly apartment tower to be built at Tuetonia Hall;

• Saw Mill River Daylighting at Larkin Pla-za — this $17 million project is underway, with a new riverfront park planned for the downtown, utilizing the city’s natural resources to attract visitors and new development and construction surrounding the soon-to-be visible river;

• Green Projects — the “green wave” of environmentally friendly redevelopment in the downtown cannot be forgotten; with help from community organizations like Groundwork Hudson Valley, Beczak Environmental Center and others, locations like the Yonkers Pier (and X20 restaurant) and the Science Barge have be-come major destination sites.

The progress at Ridge Hill begs the ques-tion; what is happening with the SFC project? This massive plan to redevelop downtown Yon-kers is another long-debated project that was ap-proved last year.

The approved project called for a minor-league baseball stadium and retail and residen-tial construction in and around Getty Square, Chicken Island and on the riverfront.

Developer Streuver, Fidelco, Cappelli (SFC, where the colloquial name for the stalled project came from) has considered scaled back options to their original $1.6 billion plan, and even an altered $600 million plan, while they ride out the economic downturn.

Peter Klein of SFC told Yonkers Rising that their development project will happen, but it could take up to three years to even break ground.

“We are actively pursuing national retail tenants who are more engaged now in reviewing new projects than they were last year,” he said.

Klein explained that financing for their project will come after retail tenants agree to open in downtown Yonkers.

“The uptick in the economy has enabled re-tailers to be more optimistic about future plans. As such, they need to decide today where they want new stories in 2013 and ’14,” explained

Klein. “Commercial development financing is driven by leasing — once we sign tenants, we are confident the financial markets will provide the needed funding.”

Klein said that SFC has a supermarket and movie theater interested in opening in their pro-posed River Park Center mall on Chicken Island, with efforts to secure a major retailer underway.

“Developers are always in partnership with retail tenants. The delay in starting new proj-ects is not unique to Yonkers, its indicative of the global slowdown in retail expansion,” said Klein. “Big retailers have closed stores all over the country, so its difficult to get them to open new at new locations, but we think downtown Yonkers needs another mass merchandiser. We don’t have anyone saying that they don’t want to be here.”

While Klein said it was possible that SFC could further downsize their proposal, “we still plan to build a 450,000 square foot project that will be the leader in bringing more people to the downtown, day and night.”

When asked about SFC’s plans for a new residential construction on the banks of the Hud-son, Klein said “You need a retail destination first. River Park Center will create that place and the residential can follow. We’re encour-aged by Ridge Hill’s tenant announcements; it shows that retailers are filling spaces at already-built centers and will then turn their attention to projects ready for construction.”

Another key part of SFC’s downtown rede-velopment plan was the daylighting of the Saw Mill River at Getty Square and Chicken Island, the same river currently being daylighted at Lar-kin Plaza. Thirty-four million dollars in state grants were acquired for the daylighting for SFC, but some funds have been re allocated for the Larkin daylighting.

The New Main Street Development Cor-poration (NMSDC) was set up to acquire the state funds for daylighting purposes. The NMS-DC has moved forward with plans to purchase more than a dozen properties along New Main and surrounding streets underneath which the river flows. Negotiations with property owners continue, but the possibility of moving forward using the power of Eminent Domain remains a possibility.

And what about the future of the minor league baseball stadium? One downtown devel-opment player told us, “Projects like the minor league stadium are loss leaders. They certainly help fuel more development, but there are an upfront cost and an ongoing loss. Who pays for it?”

Yonkers Rising has also learned that two key pieces to the downtown puzzle, Station Plaza at 86 Main St., and the 15 acres of riverfront prop-erty, where the Blue Cube (most recently used as a movie studio) is located, have been purchased recently. More on these stories next week.

Redevelopment: Continued from Page 1

or excessively delinquent in parking violations summonses. The vehicles are then impounded and secured by one of the city tow companies. The impounding of such vehicles generates rev-enue for the tow companies involved.

Section 111-15 sets forth that the mayor, after having received recommendations from the Police Commissioner, “shall designate three qualified licensees, each to maintain an impound area with the City of Yonkers and to remove an impounded vehicle thereto when and as directed by the Police Department.” Thus, three tow com-panies are selected to impound vehicles for the city, with each being awarded a two-year con-tract.

When the current contract was awarded in early 2010, the YPD chose not to make specific recommendations regarding preferred vendors. Instead, the city created a working group with representatives from the YPD, PVB, Mayor’s Office, Corporation Counsel, Purchasing De-partment and Finance Department to evaluate the applicants. The committee primarily consid-ered the applicants’ responses to the Request for Proposals (RFP) and the results of YPD facility inspections.

Prior to that contract, the three tow compa-nies designated for impounding were Don-Glo, County Auto & Commercial Towing and Transit Auto Towing.

The city opened up the contract to include companies that are designated by New York State as, “itinerant vehicle collectors,” to broaden the field of those who can apply for the contract and create greater competition. As a result of this change and an increase in the fees the companies could legally charge customers, three new tow companies sought the contract last year in addi-tion to the three above-mentioned companies.

One of the new companies, A.P.O.W. Tow-ing, received a contract along with Don-Glo and County. The current contracts expire in the spring of 2012. The City Council did consider expand-ing the number of impound contracts from three to a maximum of six companies, but rejected the proposal with a 4-3 vote on February 23, 2010.

The awarding of this contract to a new tow company, A.P.O.W. Towing instead of Transit, resulted in litigation that is currently pending be-fore the New York State Appellate Division. The issues involved in that litigation are beyond the scope of this report and will be resolved by the court system. Furthermore, several individuals brought to our attention accusations of alleged legal and/or financial impediments to the award-ing of the contract. To the extent that such is-sues are not covered by the ongoing litigation, we reviewed each in detail and found them to be either satisfactorily resolved or lacking sufficient weight to prevent the awarding of the contract.

Impound Records and FinancesEach month, the city bills the three tow

companies $100 for each impound. The YPD Communications Division maintains a hand-written log for impounds and other activity, with several columns for different information. The YPD Fiscal Services Department then utilizes these logs in order to create a monthly bill for each company.

The RFP states that the companies, “will be dispatched by the Police Department’s Commu-nications Division on a rotating basis.”

In fiscal year 2010, the YPD billed County for 971 impounds, Don-Glo for 995, Transit for 632, and A.P.O.W. for 188 (Transit’s contract expired and A.P.O.W.’s contract commenced in the last quarter of the fiscal year). In fiscal year 2009, County was billed for 1,135 impounds, Don-Glo for 996, and Transit for 804.

After reviewing the available documenta-tion, it is unclear why these companies that are utilized on a “rotating basis” have different num-bers of impounds each year. The different num-bers may be the result of problems with record keeping, unavailability of companies when they are called, or some other reason. We recommend that the YPD and PVB review their procedures

and remedy any inequity.Our review revealed inaccuracies in record

keeping and billings that, on numerous occa-sions, cost the city money. We reviewed YPD billings for the months of October to December 2010 and found that in each month, all three tow companies were under-billed by hundreds of dol-lars as impounds were not correctly counted. We recommend that the YPD review 2010 and 2011 billings and send out revised invoices to correct prior under-billing.

In addition, we found in our review that Transit’s last payment occurred in April 2009 and it failed to pay the city in the last year of its contract, leaving a balance due to the city of approximately $16,000. Although Transit was repeatedly billed for these funds, the city has not initiated legal action for this money. As a result of our audit, the city reportedly will now pursue legal remedies to collect the past due amount.

Conclusions and RecommendationsOur analysis of the city’s dealings with tow

and impound companies leads us to conclude that although the city recently took positive steps towards improving its procedures for awarding tow and impound contracts, additional transpar-ency and objective criteria are needed.

City employees who interact with the companies should provide written performance evaluations prior to the next contract. Also, com-panies should bid on the price of impounding ve-hicles in order to provide an important objective criteria and additional funds to the city.

Furthermore, city records for tow company activity are often hand-written and inconsistent, resulting in instances of under-billing. Improved record-keeping and better communication are needed in order to improve the efficiency and ac-curacy of the billing process.

We make the following specific recommen-dations:

• Written evaluations of all current impound companies should be created by relevant city employees and forwarded to those assisting in the selection process for the next contract;

• Documented criteria for company selec-tion should include timely payment of monthly city invoices, consumer complaints, compliance with local zoning and workers compensation requirements and maintenance and security of facilities;

• Interested tow and impound companies should bid on the contract price, resulting in po-tential increased funds to the city and an addi-tional objective criteria for deciding which com-panies are awarded the contract;

• Tow and impound records should be kept in a more organized and accessible format, such as in an Excel file, so that billings are more ac-curate and records are more easily reviewed and analyzed;

• The YPD should review 2010 and 2011 billings to tow companies and send out revised invoices to correct prior under-billing;

• The city should pursue legal remedies to collect past due tow and impound fees;

• Tow and impound billings should itemize the amount the company owes, the amount of re-duction for each applicable waiver and a final net amount that must be paid.

Council President Chuck Lesnick comment-ed on the report, saying “Time and time again, we hear from various authorities that the city has a bad track record with respect to accurate re-cord keeping and control measures. Whether it is a past IG report on the misuse of the city’s gaso-line supply, the state comptroller’s report on the IDA or this report, it is clear that the city must do a better job in maintaining transparency.”

“That is one reason why, when the proposal for the new towing contracts came up before the Board of Contract & Supply, I voted against it as the council was not provided with the criteria the selection committee used nor their written evaluations,” Lesnick continued. “While this IG report validates those concerns, it does not go far enough to examine possible conflicts between the administration and the winning vendors and the process by which the city circumvented state law with respect to appropriate licenses.”

Inspector General’s Continued from Page 5

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Mardi Gras at St. John’s Episcopal Church

Dr. Limongelli Gives Free Smiles

St. John’s Churchrecently held their Mardi

Gras celebration and pancake supper.

The dining hall was packed with songs,

costumes andcelebration in the air.Father John invited

everyone to the resi-dence to participate in burning the previous

year’s palm, which pro-vided the ash forAsh Wednesday.

Yonkers Dentist Dr. William Limongelli, with offices at 12 Warburton Ave., recently celebrated Dental Health Month in February by offering free

emergency dental treatments to anyone who needed them. Limongelli is pictured with his staff, patients, and with one happy and smiling patient.

Photos by Donna Davis

Mayor’s Coffee photos by Ed Whitman


The Yonkers celebration of St. Patrick’s Day continued with an Irish concert held last week at the Montessori Academy, sponsored by the the Untermeyer Performing Arts Council, Mayor Phil Amicone and the Yonkers Department of Parks and Recreation.

The evening of Irish Tradition included Irish tea and scones, soda bread, raffles and perfor-mances by the The McClean Avenue band and the award-winning Lynn Academy of Irish Dance.

The Lynn children dancers, under the tute-lage of Joanne Toglia-O’Hanlon, were a big hit, as were the ever-popular McClean Avenue Band.

Mayor Phil Amicone also held his annual St. Patrick’s Day Coffee at City Hall last week, with everyone enjoying great food, especially the corned beef sandwiches, provided by Eilleen’s Country Kitchen on McLean Avenue, and the coffee and beverages from Rory Dolan’s. Irish Tradition photos are viewable above. Mayor’s Coffee photos are viewable at right. L to r: Landy, Larry and Pat McCrudden and Amicone

The Marie Reilly Trio, comprised of (l to r): Oliver Charles, Noreen Charlesand Marie Reilly, with Amicone

L to r: Landy, Amicone and former City Court Judge Mike Doran

L to r: Councilman Dennis Shepherd, Bill Sacco, Susan Sacco,Jim Landy and Councilman John Larkin

L to r: Deputy Mayor Bill Regan, Eilleen from Eileen’s Kitchenand Mayor Phil Amcione

Above and below: Everyone was Irish for UPAC’s concert of Irish Traditon

The McClean Avenue Band is (l to r) drummer Tony Ryan, guitarist Padraig Allen, fiddler Jessica Semins and keyboardist Buddy Connolly

Above and below: The Lynn Academy of Irish Dance troop thrilled the crowd

The two youngest dancers were a big hit

One Last Taste of St. Patty’s Day in Yonkers

Irish Traditions photos by Donna Davis

Yonkers Rising March 18th, 2011

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