August 13th Update- Storm Clean Up, Elections, Assisted Living, Town Wide Assessment and More
Hello Greenburgh,
I hope everyone has their power back on and has recovered from the storm. DPW for Greenburgh has posted this notice for those residents curious about debris cleanup and removal. Yet another event in what has been a 2020 that we will all remember. As we wrap up summer, I hope all of you stay safe, wear masks, and still get to enjoy a little bit of summer fun.
If you haven't already make sure to like my FB page https://www.facebook.com/EricZingerGreenburgh Sometimes I will post updates there that are timely but don't get a chance to email out. Stay up to date on all the latest news. Now for the rest of the update.
Election Update
In my last update from July, I gave updates on the Democratic Primary races that were were able to be called at that point, with Mondaire Jones winning the CD 17 congressional race. Since then we now have official results in the CD16 race with Jamaal Bowman defeating incumbent Elliot Engel and Mimi Rocah defeating incumbent Anthony Scarpino for Westchester County District Attorney. The lone major race where an incumbent fought off a primary challenge is Assemblyman Tom Abinanti of the 92nd Assembly District, who narrowly defeated Jenn Williams to retain his seat in the New York Assembly. While there are Republican challengers slated for the upcoming General Election, voter makeup and past elections tell us there is virtually zero chance of any republican challenger defeating the Democratic Primary winners in these races.
Town of Greenburgh Updates
Assisted Living Updates-
MapleWood-The developer for the proposed Assisted Living Facility at the Maplewood Swim and Tennis Club has withdrawn their application. You can read the withdrawal notice here. There was large community opposition to this proposal but the main reason cited by the developer in their withdrawal was the insistence of NYS DOT to either have a left turn late into the facility, or not allow left turns into the facility at all.
Assisted Living Legislation- Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in Assisted Living in Unincorporated Greenburgh. There is the new facility on Dobbs Ferry Road, the Shelbourne facilitiy, the proposed facility at Metropolis Country Club and the Senior Community at the Elmwood Country Club. There is currently legislation before the Town Board that would amend the zoning code to limit the number of assisted living facilities in Greenburgh. It would require a 4k foot buffer between facilities in Unincorporated Greenburgh. I am happy to see the Town taking steps so that our community does not become overrun with these facilities. There is a public hearing scheduled for September 9th for public comment on this zoning ordinance amendment.
Assessment- The town is currently planning another Townwide assessment of all real properties in the area. This will not be the same as the major assessment from 4 years ago as no interior inspections will be done but it will impact the valuation of all parcels in the town. This is being down to maintain the 100% equalization ratio for properties in the area. A reminder that a reassessment is NOT a tax increase and has absolutely no impact on the total taxes collected by the town. You can read more about assessments and their impact on taxes on my website here and here and also from the Assessor here.
Con Ed Electric Rates-The Town is currently considering whether to renew the ESCO that all Greenburgh residents were signed up for via negative consent that expires at the end of the year. If you did not opt out, you have been paying substantially higher electricity delivery costs in recent months. And since the town chose not to enroll in the green program, there was no environmental benefit. My previous post on this is here. Current ESCO rates are much higher than Con Ed and should the town choose to renew the contract, it would do so knowing that the immediate result will be higher utility bills for all residents(energy market fluctuations could change that later in the contract). I emailed the Town Board about this yesterday and advocated that they not take any action to renew a contract that they know will raise utility rates without any environmental benefit for Greenburgh customers. There is a green option that they could enroll in which is under review as well. You can watch the latest work session where this is discussed here.
Hartsdale Neighbors Association
Many of you know that I am active in the Hartsdale Neighbors Association. I have recently returned to my role as President of the HNA after Stacy Fisher our previous President has moved out of the area to attend to family matters. I want to start by thanking Stacy for all of her volunteer work as HNA President. Stacy was a tremendous asset to the community and was tireless in attending Town meetings and being a community organizer. She will be missed and leaves large shoes to fill. The Scarsdale Inquirer did a write up on my return as HNA President. You can read that(with subscription) here.
If you live in Hartsdale make sure to sign up for the HNA emails by emailing info@hartsdaleneighbors.org and/or liking our FB page at www.facebook.com/hartsdaleneighbors
News Items
Hartsdale was recently featured in the NY Times Real Estate Section about people escaping the suburbs. Link
The Westchester County FB page continues to be a great source for the most up to date numbers of Coronavirus cases in the area. You can see their latest post here which shows 331 active cases in Westchester County (pop ~970k).