SFCS’s Hoarding Workshop and Vital Aging Fair Draw Scarsdale Seniors
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SFCS’s Aging in Place hosted an informative workshop entitled “Buried in Treasure: From Clutter to Chaos” at the Girl Scout House on Wednesday, October 24th. Presenter Anne B. Pagano of the Hoarding Disorder Resource and Training Group held a captive audience as she described the psychological aspects of hoarding, along with harm reduction measures.
“Experts feel in any given environment, an estimated 3-6% of the population is considered to have the disorder”, she explained, “although I believe that number is much higher”. That means that in any college dorm, apartment building or office, at least 3-6% are considered to have hoarding disorder. “It’s important to educate people because ‘high content’ homes pose severe safety risks”, she added.
Pagano differentiated between chronic disorganization, and hoarding disorder; “with hoarding disorder, there is no perceived sense of organization and all horizontal surfaces are covered, so living spaces become dysfunctional.” This poses an increased risk of severe injury related to a fall or topple, along with risks associated with a fire. Harm reduction measures would include moving flammable materials away from heat sources, and clearing three-foot walkways for egress.
Hoarding symptoms begin to appear early in life, between ages 11-15, and continue through the entire lifespan. Hoarding behavior can be triggered by trauma—living through the depression, loss of loved one, divorce/attachment issues, PTSD, or even a change of residence. Hoarding Disorder (HD) appears to affect men and women at similar rates and appear to be almost three times more common in older adults (55-94).
If you missed Wednesday’s workshop, you can find out more about Hoarding Disorder and harm reduction measures on Anne’s website: www.HoardingDisorderGroup.education.
Anne Pagano Leads a Workshop on Hoarding at the Girl Scout House
Vital Aging Fair at Scarsdale Woman’s Club
SFCS’s Third Annual Vital Aging Fair took place on Monday November 5th at the Scarsdale Woman’s Club. Approximately 25 vendors manned decorative tables displaying their wares, which ranged from chef-prepared meals to Eldercare legal and financial advice. Mayor Dan Hochvert and Trustees Lena Crandall and Matt Callahan were on hand showing their support. The event is organized by SFCS’s Aging in Place, in collaboration with the Scarsdale Library and Scarsdale Recreation’s Senior Citizen Program.
Submitted by Maryellen Saenger, Aging in Place Coordinator at SFCS
UJA Federation Honors Scarsdale Women
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Jennifer Galeon, Amy Feilbogen, Liz Rome and Rochelle Waldman, all of Scarsdale, chaired the UJA-Federation Scarsdale Women opening event at Westchester Reform Temple.UJA-Federation of New York’s Scarsdale Women kicked off the new year by honoring Karen Estrin, Meg Lazarus, Leslie Perelman, and Vivian Sklar, all of Scarsdale, for their years of leadership, dedication and service. In tribute to the honorees, over 100 women came out for a morning of mitzvahs (good deeds) to benefit two initiatives of Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS), a core partner of UJA-Federation. The event took place on Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale.
The morning began with attendees assembling bags of supplies to be donated to participants in two WJCS programs chosen by the honorees - The Mary J. Blige Center for Women and Girls, and the Nurturing Parents Program. All the items for the bags were purchased and donated by the community. Following the hands-on program, attendees heard from Myriam Baranbaum, coordinator of the Nurturing Parents Program, and Nnenna Akona-Ononaji, a participant in the program.
“UJA’s mission is to care for people in need, inspire passion for Jewish life and learning and strengthen communities in New York, Israel and around the world. Today’s honorees truly walk the walk regarding fulfilling UJA’s mission,” said Amy Feilbogen, who chaired the event with Jennifer Galeon, Liz Rome and Rochelle Waldman, all of
Scarsdale. “The activities we participated in today, similar to projects we involve ourselves in throughout the year, once again demonstrate how the women in this community are willing to roll up their sleeves, get a little dirty, and make things happen,” Feilbogen continued.
Karen Estrin, Vivian Sklar, Meg Lazarus and Leslie Perelman, all of Scarsdale, were honored at the UJA-Federation Scarsdale Women opening event at Westchester Reform Temple.
Funds raised at the event will go directly to support the two programs highlighted at the program. In addition to WJCS, UJA-Federation, supports a network of more than 80 core partners and hundreds of other nonprofit organizations, large and small. These nonprofits provide food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, independence for the elderly, jobs for the unemployed, as well as stimulating education programs for people in New York, in Israel, and in nearly 70 countries.
CNC Procedure Committee Announces Candidates to Run for Nominating Committee
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On Tuesday, November 13, a week after the November 6 local, state and federal elections, Scarsdale residents will turn out again and vote for their neighbors who are running for seats on the non-partisan Citizens Nominating Committee. Sixteen residents have volunteered to run as the elected representatives from each elementary school area. Those who are elected will join current CNC members to meet with non-partisan candidates for the village offices of Mayor and three Trustees. The 30 elected members of the CNC will then nominate candidates to represent the Non-Partisan party’s slate in the village election, which takes place in March 2019.*
According to Procedure Committee Chair Madelaine Eppenstein, “these are the candidates whose names will appear on the CNC ballot on November 13 – the full list along with biographies of each candidate will appear in the brochure mailed to all residents prior to the election:
Procedure Committee Co-Chair Eric Cheng stated that “the thirteen new committee members elected on November 13 will join the 17 others serving staggered three-year terms on the CNC. The Procedure Committee, which administers the process, is seeking the election of two candidates in each district, with the exception of Edgewood, where it is seeking the election of three candidates to include the replacement of one CNC member who recently resigned (leaving a one-year vacancy), and Heathcote, where the third and fourth highest vote getters in this election will fill either a one-year or two-year vacancy.”
This year the Procedure Committee has proposed amendments to the Non-Partisan Resolution, the governing document of the Scarsdale non-partisan electoral system. Copies of the proposed amendments and a markup of the Non-Partisan Resolution are available on the Procedure Committee website here, and will also appear in the election brochure and on the ballot when the voters go to the polls to vote in a new class of CNC members.
The CNC election will be held on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at Village Hall. Residents may vote in person in the Village Hall Lobby on that date from 7:00 to 10:00 AM and from 2:00 to 9:00 PM, or by mail-in ballot received by 5:00 PM on Election Day. In the event of a tie, a run-off election will be held on Tuesday, November 20, 2018.
* Under New York State Law, candidates outside the village non-partisan election system may also run for village office by obtaining the prescribed number of signatures on a nominating petition.
The members of the 2018 Procedure Committee are: Charles Baltman; Sarah Bell; David Dembitzer; Eric Cheng; Madelaine Eppenstein; Timothy Foley; Jeff Goodwin; Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez; Eli Mattioli; David Peck; Pam Rubin; Gregory Soldatenko; Nancy Steinberg; Michelle Sterling; and Bruce Wells.
Contact: Madelaine Eppenstein, Chair at [email protected]
DeCicco's to Eliminate Use of Plastic Bags
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DeCicco & Sons, operators of a chain of family-owned supermarkets in the Hudson Valley, has announced the latest step in their continuing commitment to environmental stewardship. The company will fully eliminate single-use plastic bags in all seven of their stores, within the next thirty days.
“We’ve decided to take this step because we take very seriously the role that we have within our communities, and the responsibility we have to be good corporate citizens,” shared John DeCicco Jr., CEO of the DeCicco & Sons chain. He went on to say, “Over the last several years, we’ve undertaken quite a number of environmental initiatives, we think that being environmentally conscious is not just smart business, but that it’s an ethical imperative.”
DeCicco & Sons has introduced a wide range of green initiatives in their stores, among them; the use of highly efficient LED lighting, installation of rooftop solar panels, the use of natural refrigerants, the installation of doors on refrigerated cases and implementing advanced environmental controls in the stores. DeCicco and Sons’ dedication to environmental responsibility has received recognition and accolades, including a Platinum GreenChill certification, the U.S. EPA’s highest sustainability award for food retailers, a pending LEED certification for the Larchmont location, and a 2018 Westchester County Eco Award, among many others.
“As DeCicco & Sons continues to grow, we’re being very diligent about how we operate. We use reclaimed materials and smart building technology when we build a new store, such as the soon-to-open Somers location,” explained chain V.P., Joseph DeCicco Jr. “We also place an emphasis on sourcing the highest quality products from local suppliers. Environmental consciousness is something that we believe is important to our customers, and it’s definitely important to us as a family, and as a company.”
“As the stores eliminate single-use plastic bags, we’ll continue to have paper bags available for the convenience of our customers, but we’ll be encouraging people to use durable, reusable shopping bags,” said company V.P. Christopher DeCicco. Customers that return to the store with their own bags will receive a credit on their register total. Chris explained, “We took a look at our operations, and identified that this was the single most positive environmental change that we could make. We used 22 million plastic bags last year. That won’t happen again next year.”
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, single-use plastic bags are one of the top five single-use plastics found in the environment by magnitude, and they are one of the top five items encountered in coastline clean-ups.
Village Presents Report on Road Conditions and Repaving Program
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You’re not imagining it. The reason it feels like so many roads are being repaved in Scarsdale is because this year, the village, county and state repaved a record amount of roads, more mileage than in any year in recent memory.
A study of the road resurfacing program presented at Village Hall on Tuesday October 9 showed that for the 2017/18 calendar year 6.17 miles of road ways were repaved. This includes 1.21 miles funded with $304,650 by Con Edison who is now required to pay for curb to curb repaving of any roads they disrupt when installing new gas lines.
In addition to the Village’s increased spending, this year Scarsdale saw the resurfacing of county and state roads such as the Post Road and Weaver Street, underwritten by the state and the county, with no impact to our local budget.
But even with this uptick in spending, a good portion of Scarsdale’s 79 miles of roadways remain in need of repair.
In 2017 the village hired engineers to do a complete conditions assessment of our roads.
They concluded the following:
15% or 11.53 miles were in excellent condition
35% or 28.41 miles were in good condition
41% or 31.78 miles were in fair condition
9% or 7.79 miles were in poor condition
At the meeting, Village Engineer David Goessl explained that the cost to resurface a road is $250,000 per mile, making it $1,250,000 to repave five miles of road. The village also spends $500,000 per year on curb restoration and another $250,000 per year on repairs and patching. The NYS Department of Transportation CHIPS program (Consolidated Highway Improvement Program) reimburses the village $500,000 per year so the cost to repave 4-5 miles per year, continue the curb restoration program and do routine maintenance the would be $1,500,000.
If the village maintains this level of spending for the next five years, by 2023 all roads rated as “poor” would be repaired and the amount of “fair” roads, now about 30 miles, would be reduced to 16.1 miles. However, the $1.5 million annual spend would not bring all roads up to Good or Excellent condition.
Village engineers also presented a second, more aggressive scenario that would bring all village roads up to Good or Excellent condition in the next five years. Under this scenario, the Village would spend $2,167,000 per year and resurface 6.67 miles per year. They explained that it is not practical to do more that 6.67 miles per years for a host of reasons. Among them are:
-Paving can only be done in the four warmest months of the year
-It is best to repave when school is out and school buses are not travelling on Village roads.
-The Village competes with out local municipalities for contractors who repair roads at the same time of year.
-The Village does not have a dedicated staff person to manage paving.
The presentation was made in advance of the budget planning cycle so that trustees could prioritize needs and consider roads within the context of other Village budget items.
Whether they decide to allocate $1.5 million or $2,167 million, they will vastly increase spending on road repairs which hovered at only $300,000- $400,000 per year for 2008 to 2014 when the village was only repaving about 1.5 miles per year. Trustees attribute this lack of spending in the past to the current state of the roads.
So the next time you’re stuck in traffic due to road construction or required to detour to get around paving crews, rather than be annoyed, appreciate the fact that your roads are being repaired and you’ll have a better ride in the months to come.
Wondering how your road compares? Look up the condition of your road here:
