eastchester review 9-4-2015

September 4, 2015 | Vol. 3, Number 34 | www.eastchesterreview.com

Eastchester REVIEWTHE

The auditorium project, first proposed in 2012, was part of a $10 million capital plan to im-prove the space, with enhance-ments to both the façade, seat-ing and indoor acoustics.

“We are coming to the com-pletion with the end of the au-ditorium, and [we had] money in that project for landscaping,” Carlin said. “Instead of throwing bushes and trees up, why don’t we look at planning for how it [will] sit in with the whole site?

The Facilities Advisory Committee, tasked with con-sidering infrastructure upgrades and tracking items in the school budget, recommended Wes-ley Stout Associates, based out of New Canaan, Conn., to the school board as the landscape

architecture firm, which it ap-proved to begin to devise the plan, that Carlin said could be unveiled as early as October.

Wesley Stout has worked on projects at other similar fa-cilities, including the Stanwich School in Greenwich, Conn., and more locally, the school grounds within the Mama-roneck School District.

Still, Carlin wants the land-scape master plan to follow the same review process mandated for the school buildings by New York state, which sees them in-spected every five years. Carlin said he would like the grounds to be inspected within that same timespan, where currently in-spections are not required for state review, and only occur

when the committee deems them necessary.

One of those project necessi-ties involved a feasibility study back in 2013 that explored changing the lights, and for how long they would illuminate Chambers Field to extend play-ing time for the school’s sports teams. The board decided not to move forward with this plan to avoid upsetting neighboring residents, some of whom were vocal in their opposition to the light pollution and how out-of-character stadium lighting would be in the small village, according to Carlin.

The advisory committee has about 25 members, and includes

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Bronxville School considers master landscape plan

ZBA vote on Main St. project invalid

prove five variances and grant the project a special use permit.

Tom Ringwald voted in fa-vor of the approvals. David Scalzo then voted against the approvals, a surprising vote considering he had just voted in favor of a conditional nega-tive declaration under the state environmental review, which means the development would not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. Only one member, John Pal-ladino, voted against the nega-tive declaration.

Gallo then halted the vote and adjourned into executive session after a brief conversa-tion with Village Attorney Gary Gjertsen. After spending sever-al minutes in executive session, the board resumed the meeting when Gallo, a supporter of the project, said the vote would be suspended until Barandes could return at a later date.

Barandes was called during executive session and she ex-pressed her interest in voting on the project, Gallo said. The board chairman added that the two votes already cast on the project would stand.

Based on the June 3 vote against the negative declaration, it seemed clear that Palladino would have voted down the ap-provals that night. And by doing so, Palladino’s vote would have solidified the motion’s defeat since the vote would have been split 2-2. A motion needs sup-port of a majority of the board in order for it to pass; meaning, in this instance, the application would have been denied.

Ready to defendThe Bronxville Broncos are ready to defend their 2014 state title in soccer and head coach Don Cupertino is preaching to his players not to rest on last year’s laurels. For story, see page 15.

Photo/Bobby Begun

VOTE continued on page 8

By JOHN BRANDIStaff Writer

The grass just may get a little greener at the Bronxville School, as the school district moves for-ward to develop a master land-scape plan for its campus.

On the heels of the auditorium project, anticipated to be com-pleted when students start their first day on Sept. 9, the Bronx-ville Board of Education was prompted to start taking a closer look at what was outside as well, according to Superintendent for Business Dan Carlin. Leftover funding from the auditorium operations allowed the district to move forward with securing an architect to draft a landscape master plan.

By cHRIs EBERHARTStaff Writer

A recent vote that approved multiple variances and granted a special use permit to a devel-opment project along Tucka-hoe’s Main Street is, in fact, invalid, the Review has learned.

Bob Freeman, the execu-tive director of the New York State Committee on Open Gov-ernment, told the Review in a phone interview last week that the voting process used in early June by the Tuckahoe Zoning Board of Appeals for the 100 Main St. project is “the most ridiculous thing” he has ever heard of.

The project applicant, MC Equities LLC, is looking to construct a four-story, mixed-use commercial and residential development on a vacant lot of land on a busy section of the village’s Main Street corridor.

Freeman, who advises and oversees issues of transparency and Open Meetings Law for the state, said the issue is that mu-nicipal boards or commissions can’t carry votes over from one meeting to the next, which is precisely what the zoning board did when it stretched the 100 Main St. decision over the length of two meetings.

During the first zoning board meeting on June 3, only four of the five land use board mem-bers were present. Janice Ba-randes couldn’t attend the meet-ing because of family reasons.

Ron Gallo, the zoning board chairman, cued up the board’s second vote of the night, where zoning board members had to decide if they were going to ap-

2 • The eastchester review • September 4, 2015

September 4, 2015 • THE EAsTcHEsTER REVIEw • 3

By cHRIs EBERHARTStaff Writer

For years, water has been seeping through the rapidly-aging roof of the Eastchester Public Library, staining the ceil-ing tiles with brown blotches and damaging the carpet in the process.

Since 2013, the library has been planning and trying to secure funding for the roof re-placement project, estimated to cost $300,000.

The library received two-thirds of the funding from the town after the Eastchester town board approved $205,000 worth of bonds in 2014 and 2015. The final third, $94,861, came from a state grant that was finalized in early August.

The project went out to bid in early July and yielded seven re-sults ranging from $226,500 to $372,000. During the Aug. 18 town board meeting, the board awarded the project to the low-est bidder, Milcon Construction Corp., a West Babylon-based construction company.

Eastchester library awards $226K roof bidThe roof hasn’t seen any

renovations, other than emer-gency patchwork, since the early 1990s, according to Tracy Wright, executive director of the Eastchester Public Library.

“The old roof outlived its life expectancy years ago,” Wright said. “We’ve been patching leaks for six or seven years, if not longer, and it [has] cost us so much time and money so we’re excited about having a roof that doesn’t leak.”

Work on the library roof is expected to begin on Sept. 14 and will take at least two weeks depending on the weather. Wright said the plan is for the library to remain open during construction, but the noise will periodically force the library to close certain sections and shift computers and popular books to other parts of the library.

The bid came in nearly $75,000 under the estimated cost of the project, which East-chester Town Supervisor An-thony Colavita, a Republican, said gives the town leeway in case of hiccups during the

renovations. “When you open up a roof,

something always happens,” Colavita said. “This gives us room to fund unforeseen costs.”

The annual bandage-like patchwork on the roof worked to an extent, saving the li-brary’s book inventory from major damage, but sections of the carpet were ruined. Wright said replacing the carpet is the library’s next project, which is estimated to cost another $100,000, along with the ad-dition of LED lighting. She said she has already filled out another grant application, but the process moves like a glacier and she said they are watching the clock.

Two years from now, in May 2017, the Eastchester Public Library will be commemorat-ing 50 years at its current lo-cation, 11 Oakridge Place, and there are plans for a year-long celebration. All the renovations dating back to 2013—when the children’s room underwent $60,000 worth of renovations and was restored with a new

ceiling, new LED lighting, new furniture, a new circulation desk and soon-to-be new car-peting—will be done with this

anniversary in mind. “That’s the goal,” Wright

said. “We want to get all the renovations done by May 2017

in time for the 50th anniversary of being in this location.”

cONTAcT: [email protected]

Work to replace the Eastchester Public Library roof is set to begin in the middle of September after awarding the roof replacement project to Milcon Construction Corp. for $226,500. The work will take at least two weeks to complete. Contributed photo


What’s going on...

Eastchester 5K run The Eastchester 5K will be run on Sunday,

Sept. 27. All proceeds from this year’s race will go toward improvements at the Eastchester Public Library. More details to follow.

Free museum passesLooking for something to do during the lazy,

hazy days of summer? Thanks to the Friends of the Eastchester Public Library, the library offers free museum passes to 11 different museums. Ask for more details at the reference desk or visit east-chesterlibrary.com for more information.

Storytime programFall Storytime programs will begin in October

this year. New registrants must come to the library with proof of their child’s age, using a copy of their passport or birth certificate in order to sign up. Returning registrants who participated in Sto-rytime during the spring of 2015 and had regular

attendance may pre-register via email, and will re-ceive an email with instructions on how to do so.

Eastchester and Tuckahoe library cardholders receive priority for Preschool Storytime. Non-residents will be placed on a waiting list; if there are still openings one day prior to the beginning of the program, spots will be offered to those on the waiting list. More information is available at east-chesterlibrary.org. Please note the change in dates.

Bronxville Public LibraryAnnual Book Swap

Trade in gently-used books that you no longer want for other books. Take books to the Yeager Room on the lower level and pick up a ticket with the number of books you have returned written on it. Bring your ticket to the book swap and take the same number of books you dropped off, then re-turn your ticket to the circulation desk on the first floor. Books that are traded in can be either fic-tion or non-fiction children, teen or adult books and should not be molded, stained, have yellow pages, broken pages, highlighted lines or broken spines. Textbooks, encyclopedia sets or reference books are not allowed to be traded in. Maximum amount of books traded in is 30 per family. The an-nual book swap will take place from Monday, Aug. 31 through Saturday, Sept. 5 during open hours.

Family Film FridaysThe library’s weekly film series will continue

with “Miniscule” on Friday, Sept. 4, screening

from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Join a little lost ladybug as she is thrown between two feuding colonies of ants in this groundbreaking animated masterpiece of insect proportions. The race is on as her unlikely new friends must transport the ultimate treasure, a stolen picnic basket, back home to their colony. With a fierce army of fire ants standing in their way, the little insects must work together to make the perilous journey home. Running time: 89 min-utes. The next film in the series will be “Home,” screened on Friday, Sept. 11 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Follow the adventures of a lovable misfit from another planet who meets a girl named Tip. Rated PG, running time: 94 minutes.

Tots of FunThe library will be hosting a program full of

songs, rhymes, movement and activity for chil-dren age 2 on Wednesday, Sept. 9 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Social NeedlersJoin the library for a knitting and crochet hour

every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon. Chat and socialize while making beautiful items that will be donated to the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. For more information, call 337-7680 ext. 63 or email [email protected].

Wednesday Movie MatineeThe library’s weekly movie matinee will contin-

ue with “5 Flights Up,” screening on Wednesday, Sept. 9 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. A long-time married couple who’ve spent their lives together in the same New York apartment become over-whelmed by personal and real estate-related issues when they plan to move away. Rated PG-13, run-ning time: 93 minutes.

African Safari AdventureThe library will be hosting a multi-media pre-

sentation that will introduce audience members to African safaris in countries like Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and South Africa. Top-ics that will be covered include when to go on an African safari and what to expect, transporta-tion and accommodation recommendations and information about private reserves and national parks to visit. This informative presentation will be given by the Elli Travel Group of Larchmont. The presentation will be given on Thursday, Sept. 10 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. To register and for more information, call 337-7680 ext. 24.

Preschool CraftThe library will be hosting a school-themed

drawing and pasting activity for children ages 3 and up on Thursday, Sept. 10 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Board of Trustees meetingThe library will be holding its monthly board of

trustees meeting on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. in the boardroom on the lower level of the library.

The Walk to End Alzheimer’s

Did you know that every 67 seconds an Ameri-can is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? Or that the price tag for this disease, which has no cure, no ef-fective treatment or way in which its course can be slowed, will total $226 billion in the U.S. in 2015

alone? Alzheimer’s affects more people in the U.S. than any of the other top 10 diseases, yet it receives the least financial support.

The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the single great-est source of funding for research, education and treatment. Please join the walk with your spirit and energy. To locate a walk, for information on how to form a team, join a team, contribute time or make a donation, visitalz.org/hudsonvalley. The 2015 walk for Westchester County is taking place on Sunday, Oct. 4, meeting at the White Plains High School, 550 North St., near the Bryant Avenue entrance. Check-in is at 9 a.m., with a welcome and the walk starting at 10 a.m. To sign up, visit alz.org/walk or call 800-272-3900. For more information, contact Terry Kean at 253-6860 or [email protected].

Bronxville Women’s Club

Guest artist exhibitThe guest artist exhibiting for the month of Sep-

tember at the Bronxville Women’s Club is J.M. Henry, showing a collection called “Yours, with ghosts drawn on my back.” The exhibition at the Bronxville Women’s Club at 135 Midland Ave. in Bronxville, will run from Thursday, Sept. 8 through Tuesday, Sept. 29 with an opening reception on Sun-day, Sept. 13 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Henry, originally from New York, now resides in South Carolina. His works have been exhibited throughout the country and are in several museums and private collections. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is open to the public free of charge. For more information, call the BWC at 337-3252 or visit bronxvillewomensclub.org.

Book discussionThe Bronxville Women’s Club will discuss the

book “Gone to Soldiers” by Marge Piercy on Sun-day, Sept. 13 at 1:30 p.m. at the Bronxville Wom-en’s Club at 135 Midland Ave. in Bronxville. The meeting chair will be Carole Michaels.

Movie classesThere will be two movie classes with instruc-

tor Collin Simon at the Bronxville Women’s Club. The movies are viewed with a discussion follow-ing the screening. “Big Fish” will be screened on Monday, Sept. 14 and “The Princess Bride” will be screened on Monday, Sept. 21. Doors open at 7 p.m., movies begin at 7:15 p.m. There is no charge for attendance, but donations are accepted. Open to the public, reservations not necessary. For more information, call the BWC at 337-3252 or visit bronxvillewomensclub.org.

Eastchester Public Library

Deadline for our What’s Going On section is every Thursday at noon. Though

space is not guaranteed, we will do our best to accommodate your listing. Please send all

items to [email protected].


After the Eastchester Plan-ning Board’s issuance of a per-mit to begin construction in May, Mickey Spillane’s, located on 431 White Plains Road, is in the midst of plowing ahead with its plans for a rooftop dining area.

The renovations, which ac-cording to Eastchester’s Head Director of Planning Marga-ret Uhle, were approved by the Planning Board in February and will add an approximately 900-

square-foot, second floor dining area complete with 15-foot ceil-ings and an atrium to let in light, as well as an outdoor deck.

“It’s going to give [custom-ers] a second story with a unique party room that will allow for an outdoor dining experience,” said Mike DeVivo, Mickey Spillane’s bar manager.

According to DeVivo, the construction, which is ongoing, has been coming along smoothly

Mickey’s rooftop targets late October completionsince June. Currently the steel has been delivered, the cinder block walls are in place, and they are gearing up to install electrical, plumbing and sprinklers.

In order to obtain the necessary approvals for the rooftop dining additions, Mickey Spillane’s re-quired three variances from the Planning Board in regard to a deficiency in allowable feet that a property can have for front and side yard setbacks, according to the town code. The variances were officially approved in No-vember 2014.

Progress on the rooftop ad-ditions also hit a snag when the architect for the project was changed and new plans—which included higher ceilings—were submitted in September 2014.

Now, however, things seem to be going forward as planned, and DeVivo said he expects the proj-ect to be completed and ready for use just in time for Halloween or at some point in the next eight weeks.

“Everything is pretty much set,” DeVivo said.-Reporting by James Pero Plans for Mickey Spillane’s include a rooftop dining area which is set to be open to the public in late October.

Rendering courtesy John Innacito

After receiving a permit to begin construction from the Eastchester Planning Board in May 2015, work for Mickey Spillane’s new rooftop addition is underway. File photo


Publisher | Howard Sturmanext. 21, [email protected]

Executive Vice President | Ira Ellenthalext. 28, [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief | Christian Falconeext. 19, [email protected]

Sports Editor | Mike Smithext. 22, [email protected]

Editorial Assistant | Sibylla Chipaziwaext. 25, [email protected]

Editorial Assistant | Suzy Berkowitzext. 30, [email protected]

Reporter | Chris Eberhartext. 26, [email protected]

Reporter | John Brandiext. 18, [email protected]

Advertising | Michael Buzzeoext. 15, [email protected]

Graphic Designer | Arthur Gedin

Graphic Designer | Jim Grasso

Advertising Coordinator | Marcia Schultzext. 27, [email protected]

Staff WritersJackson Chen, James Pero

Staff PhotographerBobby Begun

ColumnistsMary Marvin, Tonia Tagliaferro,

Richard Forliano, Lenore Skenazy

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If you have a view to express, write a letter to the editor by email to

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By JAMEs PEROStaff Writer

Perhaps the only thing more intriguing than the content of Judith Dupré’s books is the way they’re presented.

“Skyscrapers,” a New York Times bestseller, is elongated and skinny, mimicking the di-mensions of the towers chroni-cled between its covers; “Bridg-es” sprawls horizontally in a homage to the architectural de-sign of its namesake; “Church-es,” another New York Times best seller, folds open like the gates to a chapel, revealing its pages like a church’s nave.

For her next book, however—which catalogues the arduous, and oftentimes emotionally-charged, construction of One World Trade Center—Dupré may not need any symbolic de-sign; the building, and the tragic history that preceded its erec-tion, speak for themselves.

Dupre said, though the Twin Towers, which stood in place of One World Trade Center be-fore terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, are now long gone, their shadow still looms over the site.

“The opportunity arose to write about One World Trade Center,” Dupré said. “And I

thought, ‘Here’s this challenge.’ How do I make this new when everything down there is haunt-ed by the ghost of 9/11… The biggest challenge that One World Trade Center has to face is exorcising the ghosts of the past.”

In late July, Dupré, a resident of Prospect Avenue in Mama-roneck, was one of 36 appli-cants to receive a grant from the National Endowment of the Hu-manities for its inaugural Pub-lic Scholars program, a grant which will help fund her newest endeavor; a book called “One

In her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and Mamaroneck resident Judith Dupré will tackle One World Trade Center’s long road to fruition. Photo/Joe Woolhead

World Trade Center: The Biog-raphy of the Building,” which is set to be released in spring 2016.

The $37,800 grant will aid Dupré—who was given un-precedented access to the site, archives, and suppliers of the Trade Center by the Port Au-thority—in crafting a book that will take readers on an immer-sive journey through the build-ing’s actualization, using origi-nal photography, transcripts from more than 70 interviews with the buildings chief archi-tects and designers, and an in-teractive website where readers will be able to explore the topic even further.

Dupré is no rookie when it comes to writing about architec-ture. She has developed a track record for rendering the world’s architecture in a way that is both accessible and enjoyable to mass audiences for the past 30 years, selling nearly a million copies worldwide.

But according to Dupré, no building has surprised her as much as One World Trade Center.

“The building had to do so much,” she said. “It had to be a good place for thousands of peo-ple to work; it had to be the most secure building in the world. [One World Trade Center’s] se-curity measures have changed the way skyscrapers are built around the world … It’s an in-credibly innovative building.”

Despite the building’s abil-ity to inspire awe, according to Dupré, both constructing the building as well as writing about it came with its fair share of complications. For her, the ma-jor obstacle was capturing the beauty and ethos of the Trade Center while presenting opin-ions about it.

“Sorting out all the opinions in an equitable way [was dif-ficult],” she said. “Everyone wanted to tell me the real story. There were a lot of opinions.”

Surprisingly, according to Dupré, the Trade Center’s big-gest obstacle to fruition may have been, not having too few, but too many people willing to help.

“Building the Trade Cen-ter was like a relay race where

people just brought in signifi-cant concepts and then handed off the baton to the next person who then advanced it again a bit,” she said. “It took a long time to build. It was also a project that was slowed by a smothering of good intentions. People wanted to help; people wanted to be involved.”

This complication, accord-ing to Dupré, was also one of the Trade Center’s biggest triumphs.

During the push to erect One World Trade Center, the author explains that dozens of orga-nizations consisting of hun-dreds of members, along with more than 26,000 construction workers were involved in brin-ing the Trade Center to life.

“With no hyperbole,” Dupré said, “One World Trade Center is the most profound collabora-tion in history.”

Even though the book is

nearing completion according to Dupré, she continues to spit-ball new ideas for how to make the reading experience even more immersive and interactive.

One idea involves a corre-sponding mobile app which would allow visitors of the site to hear interviews with some of One World Trade Center’s most important architects.

“We want to give people a way to use their smartphones to [interact] with One World Trade Center,” she said. “So you can pick up your phone and hear David Childs, the lead architect, tell you about the design.”

Beyond any app, website, de-sign, or piece of written content, however, Dupré explained her simple goal for the book.

“My goal was to convey the beauty of One World Trade Center,” she said.


“Skycrapers,” first published in 1996, is 18 inches tall and designed to mimic the towers inside.

New York City’s iconic Flatiron Building is one of the towers featured in “Skyscrapers.” Photos/“Skyscrapers”

Author chronicles One World Trade Center


Irving Harper dies, sculptures to be auctionedBy cHRIs EBERHART

Staff Writer

Legendary artist and designer Irving Harper died from renal failure in the obscurity of his Greenhaven home in the City of Rye on Aug. 4. He was 99.

He is survived today by his daughter, Elizabeth Harper Wil-liams, who characterized her fa-ther as “a good, kind, creative,

lovely man.”She paused for a moment, and

added, “I’ll miss him a lot.” Since the 1960s, Harper, a

quiet and reserved man by na-ture, created hundreds of paper sculptures of different shapes, sizes and colors in his off-the-beaten-path home—hidden be-hind trees and shrubbery in a corner of Brevoort Lane—as a way to relieve the everyday

chair and watched visitors mar-vel at his paper sculptures. In January 2015, Harper saw one of his sculptures, a coiled snake comprised of light blue and dark pink paper, auctioned off for the first time ever. Rye residents Paul and Kate Conn presented the highest bid: $21,000.

Harper told the Review after

the opening, “I didn’t want the attention, so I was reluctant [to showcase] the sculpture in an ex-hibit. But I eventually welcomed it, and it was a great feeling to be discovered.”

Harper Williams said her father’s works will be auc-tioned off by Richard Wright in Chicago.

Meg Rodriguez, executive director of the Rye Arts Center said, “No matter who has Harp-er’s [paper sculptures], it would be wonderful if Irving Harper could live on through his work being publicly shared with future generations.”


stress of working as a designer in the renowned New York City of-fice of George Nelson in the late 1940s to the early 1960s.

During his time as a designer, Harper created some of the Nel-son office’s most iconic contri-butions including the 1949 Ball Clock, the Herman Miller logo and the 1965 Marshmallow Sofa.

But in his spare time over the past 55 years, Harper created pa-per sculptures that never left his home. He never wanted them to.

To Harper, these sculptures were like his friends.

Last September, the Review interviewed Harper in his home, where he was surrounded by his works. At one point, he took a break from answering questions, scanned the room and finally said, “I’m here looking at [the sculptures], and they’ve just add-ed so much to my life.”

Earlier that month, on Sept. 14, 2014, Harper’s works were showcased for the first time ever in the Rye Arts Center on Milton Road.

During the opening of the ex-hibit, Harper sat in his wheel-

Irving Harper, legendary artist and Rye resident, died of renal failure earlier this month. He was 99. File photos

This was one of hundreds of sculptures created by Irving Harper that were scattered all over his secluded Rye home.


Two magnificent gifts from two great women

HISTORICALLY SPEAKINGRichard Forliano

HISTORICALLY SPEAKINGRichard Forliano

Two women who lived in the Town of Eastchester for most of their adult lives would make in-credibly generous gifts that have greatly enhanced the quality of life in our community. These very different individuals who came from dissimilar backgrounds unknowingly shared a common bond. Their names are Carmela Vaccaro and Frieda Riggs. Here are their stories.

Carmela, who spent most of her adult life in the north end of Eastchester, was the matriarch of one of the oldest and biggest fam-ilies in the Town of Eastchester. She had six children, 43 grand-children, and more than 75 great-grandchildren, many of whom still live in the town. But that is but a small part of what made this very special person so unique. Carmela was born in a mountain village in Italy, two hours east of Rome. The oldest of six children, Carmela carried much of the re-sponsibility in the family.

Carmela and Donato Vaccaro, like their parents before them, had six children. Sadly, Donato died of peptic ulcer in 1947 and Car-mela had the responsibility of car-ing for the family. Fortunately, her sons Luke and Leslie took over the successful shoe store busi-ness that their father had started in the Village of Scarsdale. Scars-dale’s Vaccaro Shoe Repair was founded in 1928 and remained a family-run business and fixture in the community for 83 years, clos-ing in 2011.

Her home and garden, family, faith and love of community were her four great passions. She at-tended Mass every day at the Im-maculate Heart of Mary Church. She participated in Bible classes and prayer groups and avidly took part in the social ministry of the church. Day and night, her home was always open to her children and numerous grandchildren. Her son, Les, remembers riding a horse on the property and playing with the chickens, goats and rab-bits along with eating the wonder-ful fruits and vegetables from her garden. She always wanted all the people in her neighborhood, espe-cially the children, to be healthy and happy.

Frieda Riggs was deeply com-

mitted to the cultural life of the Bronxville community, main-taining the high quality of the Bronxville school system, and the preservation of Bronxville’s architectural and historic heritage. Frieda Wildy Riggs was born in Nebraska in 1907, the third of four daughters. Her father, Cal-vin Wildy, started out as a home-steader, then turned banker. When her father realized he was losing his sight, he moved his family to Colorado so that his four daugh-ters would attend the University of Colorado at Boulder. Upon graduation, Frieda came to the east and received a master’s in so-cial work from Byrn Mawr Col-lege. For Frieda and her family, a quality education was always a priority.

Before obtaining her degree and beginning her career in so-cial work in Westchester County, Frieda spent a summer working at Yellowstone National Park where she met a young man named Arad Riggs. In 1932, they got married. After marriage, they moved into the Fleetwood section of Mount Vernon. Arad, a promising attorney, took the train to Manhattan and Frieda took a bus up Route 22 to White Plains where she had a job with the Westchester County Depart-ment of Social Services. But Frieda, as she rode the bus, took special notice of the Abijah Mor-gan house, the oldest home in Bronxville at the northeast cor-ner of White Plains and Pond-field roads. In 1937, the asking price of the home from the bank was $12,000 and with help from her family, Frieda and Arad were able to purchase the house. She lived in the house continuously for 53 years until her passing in 2000.

Upon moving into Bronxville, Frieda immediately became in-volved in community activities even though she continued to work for the county Department of Social Services until the end of World War II. In the 1950s she served on the Bronxville Board of Education. She also was a mem-ber of the board of the Bronxville library and emphasized the im-portance of collecting and pre-serving important works of art. She also was an active member of the Reform Church of Bronxville. Frieda was deeply committed to quality education, the cultural life of the Bronxville community, and

the preservation of Bronxville’s architectural and historic heritage.

The year was 1950 and Carme-la Vaccaro had been a widow for three years. The town offered Car-mela $68,000 for a portion of her property adjacent to her home on 68 Bell Road. Realtors today be-lieve that that property would be worth close to $2 million. Instead, Carmela decided to donate the land to the school district, accept-ing only $7,000. The town agreed and the land became Cooper Field, a playground at the former Cooper School. In the late 1970s, the closure of Cooper School left the field in danger of being de-veloped. But in 1980, town offi-cials negotiated an agreement to rent the property from the school district for $1. In 2002, Carmela passed away at the age of 99. Three years later, the Eastchester Board of Education voted to erect a sign renaming Cooper Field as Vaccaro Park. Carmela’s wish in 1950 to have a place where “chil-dren make happy sounds” had come true.

Frieda Riggs also had a dream come true. Her life had been dedicated to doing whatever she could to preserve the cultural and historical heritage of the village where she had lived for most of her adult life.

In 2000, Frieda made a testa-mentary gift of the oldest house in Bronxville, the Abijah Morgan house, to the Bronxville Histori-cal Conservancy. The house was subsequently sold subject to a restrictive easement that pre-serves the historic aspects of the building, and the proceeds of the sale and income thereon are con-tinuously applied to the conser-vancy’s mission. The mission of the conservancy is to further the understanding and appreciation of the history and current life of Bronxville. Today the programs, publications, lectures, and special events of the conservancy foster an awareness of the village’s ar-chitectural and cultural heritage.

Sadly, these two wonderful women who lived well into their 90’s are no longer with us. But the bond that they share, making the community that they love a better place, lives on.

Please contact us at [email protected] about

any comments or questions you might have about the content of our columns.

When the issue resumed dur-ing a special meeting of the zon-ing board on June 10, Gallo and Barandes voted in favor of the project. As expected, Palladino voted the application down.

But the resolution granting the variances and special use permit passed by a 3-2 vote af-ter the two votes from the pre-vious meeting were carried over and added to the three votes cast during the June 10 meeting.

Following an inquiry by the Review, Tuckahoe Mayor Steve Ecklond, a Republican, said he spoke to Village Attorney Gary Gjertsen, who assured him that proper protocol was followed. Ecklond also referred the Re-view to the minutes of the June 10 zoning board meeting, which were approved by the zoning board during its last meeting on July 8.

“I’d refer to the approved minutes as the official record of the village,” Ecklond said. “The

last sentence tells it all. That’s the lynchpin.”

The last sentence of the June 10 minutes reads, “Upon roll call vote, the motion passed with a three to two vote.”

However, the board did not follow protocol. And Freeman said procedurally, the board

cannot attempt to carryover votes.

“This is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard,” Freeman said. “Why don’t you just have five meetings and one person

vote at each meeting then add them all up? It’s just silly.”

Following the now question-able approvals, the project was referred to the Planning Board for architectural review and fi-nal site plan approval and was scheduled to first appear dur-ing the July 21 meeting. It was

adjourned in July and, accord-ing to the September Plan-ning Board agenda, will be ad-journed again this month.


VOTE from page 1

“This is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Why don’t you just have five meetings

and one person vote at each meeting then add them all up. It’s just silly.”

– BOB FREEMAN, executive director of the New York state committee on Open Government

Plans for a mixed-use commercial and residential development for 100 Main St., pictured, passed through the village’s zoning board due to a vote that carried through two meetings. But Bob Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, which is a unit in the Department of State that oversees and advises on Open Meetings Law, says municipal boards can’t do what Tuckahoe did so the vote to approve multiple variances and a special permit for the project is invalid. File photo


representation from the school, PTA and community.

One outstanding issue in the landscape project is figuring out how it will be paid for. That has yet to be sorted out, but the su-perintendent said the idea right now is to have a plan in place so the district can identify and embark on opportunities to en-hance the campus.

Meanwhile, the school board is also considering proposals for an architect to “design and manage the installation of turf”

LANDscAPE from page 1

The Bronxville School is looking at ways to spruce up its campus grounds, as a master landscaping plan is in the works and should be finalized by October, according to the district’s superintendent for business. File photo

associated with the reconfigu-ration of Hayes Field, a public referendum that was approved during the May budget vote. Though in order for the $1.79 million turf field project—to im-prove the athletic field to create regulation-sized turf field space for football, field hockey and lacrosse—to move forward, the village first needs to install a se-ries of pipes under the school’s playing field—known as the flood mitigation project—pack-aged to voters and approved in a January referendum.

The flood mitigation project is

a joint venture between FEMA, the school and the village, where the federal agency will provide 75 percent of the cost. Although the grant was supposed to be used by Sept. 15, the project has stalled while the village attempts to find additional funding for the $6.9 million project, as the re-ceived bids were nearly $4 mil-lion above that.

Carlin said he has a meeting with village officials on this mat-ter the first week in September, after press time.


Police officers Vincent Pinto and Emily Yankowski of the Tuckahoe Police Department joined with local school chil-dren to help AAA Northeast launch its 70th annual “School’s Open—Drive Carefully” cam-paign at the police department.

Colorful “School’s Open” posters will be mounted in Tuck-ahoe to warn motorists to be ex-tra careful as thousands of local youngsters return to school.

“The help that we get from our club-area police depart-ments adds to the effectiveness of our ‘School’s Open’ cam-paign,” said Donna Galasso, assistant director of the club’s

Traffic Safety unit. “We appre-ciate the efforts of Officer Pinto, Officer Yankowski and the Yon-kers Police Department which will result in increased safety for all students,” said Galasso.

Drivers should be especially cautious in school areas, keep-ing their speed at or below post-ed limits and being prepared to stop, on both sides of the street, for school buses with flashing red lights, as required by New York State law.

The club’s annual “School’s Open—Drive Carefully” cam-paign is conducted with local government and police agen-cies. Thousands of posters,

bumper stickers and other edu-cational materials are distribut-ed through the program.

AAA New York State’s “School’s Open—Drive Care-fully” program began in 1945. Since then, it has helped to prevent injuries and deaths among children of elementary school age.

AAA Northeast is a nonprofit auto club with 61 offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecti-cut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, providing more than 5.1 million local AAA mem-bers with travel, insurance, fi-nance and auto-related services. (Submitted)

Tuckahoe police launch driving campaign

have a news tip?

ContaCt your loCal reporter

Chriseberhart

[email protected]

Melissa is a very sweet, friendly girl about a year old. Very gentle and social, Melissa was a great mom to her kittens and is now ready to move into her fur-ever home, spayed and fully vetted. She gets along well with other cats, likes people and loves to be petted. This beautiful, easygoing kitty would be a great addition to your family. The adoption donation for Melissa is $80. To meet this lovely lady, please contact Larchmont Pet Rescue at 740-4072 or visit ny-petrescue.org. (Submitted)


NOTICE OF SPECIAL DISTRICT MEETING OF EASTCHESTER UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT,IN THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a resolution of the Board of Education of Eastchester Union Free School District, in the County of Westchester, New York, adopted on August 25, 2015,

a Special District Meeting of the qualified voters of said School District will be held on

Tuesday, October 20, 2015from 6:00 o’clock A.M. to 9:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time) at the following voting places: (1) the Eastchester Middle School for those persons residing in the Eastchester High School/Middle School Election District, and (2) at 235 Garth Road for those persons residing in Garth Road Election District; for the purpose of voting upon the following Bond Proposition:

BOND PROPOSITIONRESOLVED:

(a) That the Board of Education of Eastchester Union Free School District, in the County of Westchester, New York (the “District”), is hereby authorized to construct additions and improvements at the Eastchester High School building and site (the “Project”), substantially as described in a plan prepared by the District with the assistance of KG&D Architects and Engineers, (the “Plan”), which plan is on file and available for public inspection at the office of the District Clerk; including the construction of additional space for new classrooms and cafeteria expansion; interior reconstruction and space reconfiguration; auditorium and gymnasium renovations, including the installation of new auditorium seating, lighting and sound system; and other infrastructure improvements; and also including site work and parking lot and exterior lighting improvements; all of the foregoing to include the original furnishings, equipment, machinery, apparatus, and all ancillary and related site, demolition and other work required in connec-tion therewith; and to expend therefor, including preliminary costs and costs incidental thereto and to the financ-ing thereof, an amount not to exceed $26,900,000; provided that the estimated costs of the components of the Project as set forth in detail in the Plan may be reallocated among such components if the Board of Education shall determine that such reallocation is in the best interests of the District;

(b) that a tax is hereby voted in the aggregate amount of not to exceed $26,900,000 to finance such cost, such tax to be levied and collected in installments in such years and in such amounts as shall be determined by said Board of Education; and

(c) that in anticipation of said tax, bonds of the District are hereby authorized to be issued in the aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $26,900,000 and a tax is hereby voted to pay the interest on said bonds as the same shall become due and payable.

Such Bond Proposition shall appear on the ballot labels to be inserted in the voting machines used for voting at said Special District Meeting in substantially the following condensed form:

YES BOND PROPOSITION NORESOLVED:

(a) That the Board of Education of Eastchester Union Free School District, in the County of Westchester, New York (the “District”), is hereby authorized to construct additions and improvements at the Eastchester High School building and site, and to expend therefor an amount not to exceed $26,900,000; (b) that a tax is hereby voted in the aggregate amount of not to exceed $26,900,000 to finance such cost, such tax to be levied and collected in installments in such years and in such amounts as shall be determined by said Board of Education; and

(c) that in anticipation of said tax, bonds of the District are hereby authorized to be issued in the aggregate prin-cipal amount of not to exceed $26,900,000 and a tax is hereby voted to pay the interest on said bonds as the same shall become due and payable.

The voting will be conducted by ballot on voting machines as provided in the Education Law and the polls will remain open from 6:00 o’clock A.M. to 9:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time) and as much longer as may be neces-sary to enable the voters then present to cast their ballots.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that the Board of Registration shall meet on October 13, 2015, from 8:00 o’clock A.M. until 12:00 o’clock Noon (Prevailing Time), in the Administration Building, 580 White Plains Road, Eastchester, New York, for the purpose of preparing a register of the qualified voters of the school district for said Special District Meeting, at which time any person shall be entitled to have his/her name placed upon such register, provided that at such meeting of the Board of Registration he/she is known or proven to the satisfaction of such Board of Registration to be then or thereafter entitled to vote at said Special District Meeting.

AND NOTICE IS ALSO GIVEN that qualified voters may also register on any day on which school is in session during school hours until October 13, 2015, at the Administration Building, 580 White Plains Road, Eastchester, New York, between the hours of 8:00 o’clock A.M. and 4:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time).

The register of the qualified voters of said School District prepared at the Annual District Meeting and Election held on May 19, 2015, shall be used by said Board of Registration as the basis for the preparation of the register for said Special District Meeting to be held on October 20, 2015. Any person whose name appears on such register or who shall have been previously registered hereunder for any Annual or Special District Meeting or election and who shall have voted at any annual or special meeting or any election held or conducted within the District at any time since January 1, 2011, will not be required to register personally for this Special District Meeting. In addition, any person otherwise qualified to vote who is registered with the Board of Elections of Westchester County under the provisions of the Election Law, shall be entitled to vote at said Special District Meeting without further registration.

Immediately upon its completion, said register will be filed in the office of the District Clerk and will be open for inspection by any qualified voter of the District from October 14, 2015, to the day of the vote, October 20, 2015, Sunday excepted, between the hours of 8:00 o’clock A.M. and 4:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time), and on Saturday, October 17, 2015, between the hours of 8:00 o’clock A.M. and 11:00 o’clock A.M. (Prevailing Time).

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that applications for absentee ballots may be applied for at the office of the District Clerk. If the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, the completed application must be received by the Clerk of the District no later than 4:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time) on October 13, 2015. If the ballot is to be delivered personally to the voter, the completed application must be received by the District Clerk no later than 4:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time) on October 19, 2015. No absentee ballot shall be canvassed unless it is received in the office of the District Clerk by 5:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time) on October 20, 2015.

A list of all persons to whom absentee ballots shall have been issued will be available in the office of the District Clerk on each of the five days prior to the day of the election, except Saturday and Sunday, between the hours of 8:00 o’clock A.M. and 4:00 o’clock P.M. (Prevailing Time).

The place in each election district where the Special District Meeting shall be held is as follows:

EASTCHESTER HIGH SCHOOL/MIDDLE SCHOOL ELECTION DISTRICT - The place of voting will be the Middle School.

GARTH ROAD ELECTION DISTRICT - The place of voting will be 235 Garth Road.

Only qualified voters who are duly registered will be permitted to vote.

BY THE ORDER OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Dated: August 25, 2015

Lisa Sanfilippo, CPA, District Clerk

By JAMEs PEROStaff Writer

With the passing of a state-wide bill that prohibits smok-ing near after-school programs, New York state is one step clos-er to kicking smoking to the curb once and for all.

The bill, which was passed unanimously by the New York state Senate in June and signed into action by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, on Au-gust, is a concerted step toward curbing the harmful public ef-fects of secondhand smoke.

“Secondhand smoke is dan-gerous, and extremely danger-ous to young children,” said state Sen. George Latimer, a Rye Democrat, adding that un-til the passage of the bill, no law specifically prohibited smoking near after-school programs.

New York’s statewide ban is a part of a string of legisla-tive actions taken by the state over the past five years to curb smoking in public places, spe-cifically in shared spaces like hotel and motel rooms, work-places, schools and even some more publically-shared areas like Times Square in New York City.

According to data from the New York State Department of Health and the Bureau of Tobacco Control, smoking

State takes step towards extinguishing tobacco

amongst New York state youth has fallen considerably over the past four years, dropping by 74 percent between 2010 and 2014. This decline, according to Cuomo’s office, is due in no small part to legislation like the bill recently passed.

“This commonsense mea-sure will help protect children from the dangerous effects of secondhand smoke and com-plements ongoing efforts that have resulted in smoking in New York hitting an all-time low,” said Cuomo in a prepared statement.

Over the course of the past five years, statewide rates of smoking have declined sub-stantially. In June 2015, Cuo-mo announced that statewide smoking levels have been re-duced to the lowest level that New York has seen in recorded history. This drop, has been at-tributed to what the governor’s office calls its continued “to-bacco cessation efforts.”

According to data from the New York State Department of Health, as of June, New York’s adult smoking rate is at 14.5 percent, which is three percent below the national average.

Not everyone, however, is as pleased about New York’s suc-cess in the battle to curb smok-ing as the governor and the Department of Health. Some

of the state’s avid smokers are expectedly in opposition.

Groups like Citizen Lobby-ing Against Smoker Harass-ment, CLASH, have continu-ally railed against anti-smoking laws that they claim infringe upon their personal freedom. In 2013, the group was respon-sible for overturning a push by New York state parks to ban smoking on all of their premis-es—a ruling that was later over-turned by an appellate judge.

“None of these bans are enforceable,” said CLASH founder Audrey Silk. “There are no cops patrolling to catch anybody and neither should there be.”

CLASH’s battle for a smok-er-friendly New York, however, could turn out to be a losing one. With the number of smok-ers in New York dropping an-nually and increased taxation on tobacco products, smokers’ flames may be flickering.

In a statement recognizing the state’s historically low rate of smoking in June, New York State’s Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said, “We must stay vigilant and continue strength-ening our efforts until we can rid New York of tobacco once and for all.”


New York state’s smoking rate has fallen drastically over the past five years, especially amongst high school ages, whose smoking rate has declined by 74 percent between 2010 and 2014. Photo/Raul Lieberwirth via flickr.com


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TONIA SAYSTonia Tagliaferro

TONIA SAYSTonia Tagliaferro

RHYMES WITH CRAZY

Lenore Skenazy

RHYMES WITH CRAZY

Lenore Skenazy

Leaving kids in the car is not always a crime

Sure it pains me to say it, but New Jersey is suddenly a light unto us all. Last week, the N.J. Supreme Court ruled that it is not automatically considered child abuse to let your kid wait in the car for a little while.

Hallelujah!We’ve been warned these past

10 years or so that kids are in danger anytime we leave them in the car. Public service announce-ments say things like, “Never leave your child in the car—not even for a minute.” Onlookers who spot a child or dog in a car go crazy with rage. One mom I know had just buckled her child into the carseat and went to return her shopping cart. When she got back maybe 30 seconds later, a woman was screaming at her, “I can’t be-lieve you left your child in the car! She could have died!”

But this is bunk. Most of us spent at least part of our child-hood waiting in the car while our moms ran errands and no one thought this constituted abuse, hardly. I had one friend who ac-tually looked forward to the car waits with her sister because they’d tilt the passenger seat all the way back and take turns play-ing dentist.

Lately, we refuse to admit that there’s a difference between wait-ing in the car for 10 minutes on a mild afternoon and waiting in the car for 10 hours in the Mojave Desert. This obtuseness explains why, back in 2009, a mom who let her 19-month-old wait in the car during a five-to-10-minute er-rand at the Dollar Tree in South

Plainfield, N.J., was found guilty of child abuse by the state’s De-partment of Children and Fami-lies. The law there states parents cannot “recklessly create a risk of severe injury.” In New York, there is no law that specifies what age a child can legally be left in a car.

But somehow it didn’t matter that it was 55 degrees that day, or that the child slept peacefully through this whole “ordeal.” It didn’t even matter that the de-partment sent an inspector to the mom’s home and found zero evi-dence of abuse or neglect, or any-thing other than a loving house-hold with four happy, healthy children.

The mere fact that this moth-er let her kid wait in the car was enough for the department to place the mom on New Jersey’s Child Abuse and Neglect Regis-try. Every state has one—it’s like the Sex Offender Registry, just not public. Once you’re officially a “child abuser,” good luck get-ting a job in teaching, day care or nursing.

This mom, known in court only as E.D.-O., asked the child protection agency for a hearing where she could try to defend her-self and get off the registry. When this was denied, she appealed, but New Jersey’s appellate court denied her, too. The three-judge panel said there was no way she deserved a hearing because what was there to hear? She’d left her kid in the car, which automati-cally made her a child abuser be-cause something bad could have happened.

That’s true, but also highly un-likely. Of the 30 to 40 kids who die in hot cars every year, 80 percent were forgotten there for

hours, or climbed in when no one was looking and couldn’t get out. They were not waiting in the car during a short errand while mom ran into a store or picked up a pizza.

What’s more, law profes-sor David Pimentel points out, “Alarmists will argue that, ‘Any-thing could happen!’ and that’s true.” But anything could also happen when the child was be-ing walked through the parking lot, he adds. In fact, more kids die in parking lots and driveways than waiting in cars.

And if you want to talk about an even bigger risk to children, it’s not waiting in the car, it’s rid-ing in one. The No. 1 way chil-dren die in America is as car pas-sengers. So if we really want to crack down on parents who put their kids in danger, we’d have to scream things like, “How dare you drive that child to her piano lesson! She could die!”

We don’t do that because we are able to keep the unlikelihood of a fatal car crash in perspective because we are not constantly warned, “Never let a child ride in a car, not even for a minute!”

So last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with the mom’s lawyer, Sean Marotta, that we cannot expect parents to ensure a zero-risk childhood. No option is ever completely, ut-terly safe. And no parent is every completely, utterly perfect.

Being imperfect is not the same as being abusive, so ruled the court by a vote of 7-0, which is why New Jersey is now a beacon of sanity in our parent-shaming and blaming country.


Being proud of one’s body and choosing colors

Dear Tonia:I am attractive with large

breasts, which I keep contained. I often see people looking at me, at times even doing a dou-ble take. Are they looking at my breasts or me?

S.F., Scarsdale

Dear S.F.:Since the average breast size

has grown from a 34B to a 36C since the 1970s and clothing styles are smaller and snugger, it’s no wonder the line between an appropriate glance and “Look at those!” has blurred. Sex sells. And like it or not, breasts are the dynamic duo that gets beer sold and burgers bought. So it’s not such a stretch to realize that your “girls” are more likely to get checked out than, say, your knees or collarbones. As such, it makes a case for doing a double take.

Women seem to understand the power of breasts in general, but they don’t understand the power of their own. Balance them with a proper-fitting bra and the styles that flatter them rather than draw more attention to them. Wear them with confi-dence and smile when you are noticed. Enjoy the attention. We don’t know what we have until it’s gone.

Dear Tonia:I have always been very thin

and never really put weight on. My doctor says there’s nothing wrong and that it’s just my body type. I hate when people ask me why I’m so skinny or tell me that I should put on weight. Can you tell your readers how inappro-priate that is? I never ask over-weight people why they are fat or tell them to lose weight. Thanks.

C.J., Rye

Dear C.J.:Unfortunately, we live in a

society that promotes obesity and being very thin is not “in” like it was when English model Twiggy became popular in the ‘60s. There’s trouble with both extremes in the message that is sent. People tend to equate be-ing extremely thin to bulimia and anorexia, both deadly epi-demics. They may also assume one is battling an illness or has a vanity issue. Many don’t real-ize that being very thin can be just as challenging, if not more, as being overweight. Either way, everyone should keep their com-ments to themselves and treat each other with respect and dig-nity. If you don’t have something nice to say to someone, then you shouldn’t say anything at all.

Dear Tonia:Some people think that I

look good in red. I think I used to when I was younger, but not

now, especially because my shape has changed. How do I choose the right colors to wear?

T.B., Harrison

Dear T.B.:Regardless of your body type,

choose the right color to flatter your skin tone. Take photos of yourself in basic tees to see what looks best. Hues that compliment most complexions are pink, blue and white; you’ll just need to change the intensity of these col-ors to suit your coloring, e.g. hot pink for darker skins, carnation for fairer skins, ivory for olive tones, etc. Remember that your skin tone may change with the seasons. Also, be sure to look at your skin tone in natural daylight and inside light, as the colors will look different. Go to a paint store and get the large sample paint chips of the colors you like in all different hues. For example, if you want to find the right shade of blue for you, pick a few dif-ferent blues, hold them to your face in a mirror and see what each tint does for you. Once you find the colors in the hues that flatter your skin tone, staple them together and use them as your color guide.

Tonia Tagliaferro is a fashion stylist. For questions and advice, you can contact

her at tonias [email protected]. And for more information,

visit artofdesign.net.

14 • The eastchester review • September 4, 2015 SPORTS

Follow Mike Smith @LiveMike_Sports stats • recaps • commentary

Follow @eastchesterviewfor Mike’s live, in-game action updates

To CoVER loCal spoRTs, you nEEd a

LIVE MIKE!

LIvE MIKEMike Smith

During the final inning of Pennsylvania’s loss to Japan, the Red Lands team was forced to bring in catcher Kaden Peifer after it ran out of pitchers. Pre-dictably, Peifer struggled, plat-ing a run on a wild pitch. When the Pennsylvania coach came out to speak with him, Peifer was in tears—understandably—as he felt his team’s chances slipping away. He kept turning, but ESPN cameras kept turning with him, making sure to highlight the emo-tion of the moment. Despite the scene playing out between the lines, the entire thing struck me as intrusive. ESPN knows what their viewers expect from LLWS cov-erage, and they weren’t going to miss their money shot.

I understand that it’s a tricky dance to cover games with young athletes—I’ve taken some heat for including reac-tion photos in some of my high school sports coverage—but for me, including photos of teams commiserating after losses was something that added flavor to my piece, not the main fo-cus of a worldwide multimedia conglomerate.

So, will I watch the Little League World Series next year,

I hope you will forgive me for the dated, early-2000s ref-erence, but I have to say it: the Little League World Series has jumped the shark.

For years, I’ve been an ardent supporter of the entire tourna-ment, including the ESPN-tele-vised portion of it, but this year certainly highlighted some of the problems the LLWS needs to address if it wants to grab my interest going forward.

First things first, they need to move the fences back at Lamade Stadium. Again.

Now, I don’t have the statis-tics in front of me, but in the 20 or so games played at La-made Stadium from Aug. 20 to Aug. 30, I’d estimate that teams hit roughly a bajillion homers. And that’s a pretty conservative guess.

They’ve moved the fences

World Series needs changeback before. In 2006, field di-mensions went from 205 feet to 225 feet all around. It’s a start, but it hasn’t nearly been enough. I understand that it’s tough to come up with appropri-ate distances for growing kids. Especially at this age-range, 11 to 13, there’s a huge discrep-ancy in the physical maturity of all the athletes. But in a tour-nament that regularly features players like Pennsylvania slug-ger Cole Wagner, a 5-foot-11, 160-pounder who could easily have piloted Red Land’s team van to Williamsport without any state troopers taking notice, maybe it’s time to think about another park expansion.

It’s not entirely my curmud-geonly anti-homer sentiment driving this argument either. I like dingers as much as the next guy. But the proliferation of round-trippers in this tour-nament brings with it a dearth of outfield play. Because most balls that cleared the infield in Williamsport have yet to return

to earth, fans were robbed of the chance to watch some of the world’s best young outfield-ers chase down liners in the gap. There’s a lot of excitement in baseball, but with the fences so far in, we only get to see half of it.

But even the home run co-nundrum pales into compari-son to what I’ve begun to think of as the biggest problem in the LLWS: the coverage. In the past, I’ve written about how the raw, unbridled emotion of these World Series games was one of my favorite parts of the event. The wild celebrations, sure, but also those unscripted moments of sorrow from the kids on the losing teams. Scenes like Sean Burroughs laying face down in the outfield back in 1992 or last year’s Providence team crying as they listened to a rousing post-game speech from their coach come to mind. But this year, for some reason, I felt that the con-stant need to find the emotional shots bordered on voyeuristic.

An Eastchester player throws a pitch during the District 20 Little League tournament in June. Sports Editor Mike Smith finds the Little League World Series to be compelling, but he does have a few issues with the final rounds. Photo/Mike Smith

even if neither of these issues is addressed? Probably. When I become a parent, would I want my son to take part in this tour-nament? Of course I would. But

there’s always room to make things better. Especially for our kids.


September 4, 2015 • THE EAsTcHEsTER REVIEw • 15SPORTS

By MIKE sMITHSports Editor

Coming off their second state title in eight years, the Bronxville Broncos are head-ing into 2015 with a simple message: last year is in the past. But with a strong group of re-turning players in the mix, the perennial Section I contenders

Broncos set to defend titleare looking forward to another deep playoff run this fall.

Despite losing a number of seniors and two All-State play-ers to graduation, the Broncos return six starters from last year’s championship team. As the team looks ahead to the up-coming season, however, head coach Don Cupertino is ada-mant that his players haven’t

been dwelling on their success in 2014 during the preseason.

“For us, that was last year, this is this year,” Cupertino said. “We’re starting from step one, we’re not living off last year’s state title.”

The Broncos’ defensive unit remains mostly intact, as Tay-lor Sears leads a veteran group of backs that also includes

Charlotte Schmuck and Natalie Kister who both played signifi-cant roles in the title run.

“Taylor has started for me the last couple of years and she’s been doing a really good job,” Cupertino said. “But one positive is that our two other backs are coming back so our defense is strong.”

That defense will be key for the Broncos as they aim to re-place graduated keeper Charley Warble. So far, Madeline Coyne and Erin Fryer have emerged as top-flight candidates, but Cu-pertino said he will need to see more over the next few weeks as the two battle for the start-ing spot.

“For us, it’s going to come down to who shows that they can handle it,” Cupertino said. “But for now, we’re most likely going to be splitting the time.”

Bronxville has a group of young, yet experienced play-ers in the midfield, with juniors Mason Warble and Beth Fin-ley, as well as freshman Rachel Peacock all slated to play major minutes.

But the Broncos will need to retool on the offensive end after losing many of their top goal-scorers, including Lucy Kol-hoff. To that end, Cupertino be-lieves senior Fallon Raviol has a real chance to shine this fall.

“We have to replace most of our offense,” Cupertino said. “But I expect a lot from Fallon, who is one of our captains.”

The Broncos open the reg-ular season on Sept. 2, after press time, when they travel to Blind Brook to take on the Trojans. Cupertino hopes the teamwork the squad has shown in the preseason will be evident as the Broncos get set to retain their title.

“Our strength this year is go-ing to be the functionality of the team playing as a whole,” he said. “So far, our communi-cation has been pretty strong.”

Even though he doesn’t want his own team to think about last year’s state title, Cupertino added, he knows it’s not some-thing other clubs will soon for-get.

“Everybody wants to beat the state champions, and we’ve talked about that,” he said. “We know we have to get up for ev-erybody, because for everyone we play, that’s their state title game.”


Head coach Don Cupertino talks to his team during a break in practice on Aug. 29. Cupertino is confident in his team’s ability heading into the 2015 season. Photos/Bobby Begun

Bronxville players run through a drill. So far, head coach Don Cupertino has been pleased with his squad’s communication.

Broncos players face off in a ball-handling drill.

Junior keeper Madeline Coyne throws the ball on Aug. 29. Coyne and teammate Erin Fryer will battle for the starting goalie job this year.

eastchester review 9-4-2015

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