SHS Class of '74 Celebrates 50th Reunion
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- Written by Michael Bllumstein
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The SHS class of 1974 ("out the door in '74") celebrated its 50th reunion Sept 27-28. About 30 classmates gathered informally on Friday night at the Rye Grill & Bar. The biggest challenge of the evening was no name tags!
The official reunion drew some 94 classmates plus 27 guests Saturday night at Bonnie Briar in Larchmont. Hosts/organizers of the event were Ginger Robinson Smillie, Linda Beir Goslin and George Branche (class president). The Class of 1974 included 425 students, and 424 attended college!
The official Facebook page included photos from the event for days on end, as well as 
Class President George Brancheseveral calls for another gathering in five years (10 years seeming like a very long time).
(Photo credit: Mark Philips SHS '74)
A Discussion About Reproductive Justice at Hitchcock Church
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- Written by Bill Doescher
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As this country and local communities work their way to the November elections, the subject matter for the opposing presidential candidates seems to be many, varied, and intriguing, with out-and-out lies aplenty on both sides.
None of those conversations and candidate pronouncements are more contentious and worth exploring carefully than the abortion issue and crucial women’s rights of deciding and personally managing their own bodies by themselves.
It’s on the ballot.
The conversations are serious and widespread, and have included the TV debates, commentators’ thoughts, with or without the pertinent facts, newspaper editorials and the proverbial over-the-white-picket-fence-debacles, and now even a discussion seminar within a church in Scarsdale.
On Wednesday, September 25th in the Clark Room at the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church on Greenacres Avenue, the church sponsored a “Reproductive Justice Seminar” led by its very own RyaLynn Carter, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, who is affiliated with New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Rev. Pete Jones, Hitchcock’s senior minister, was the moderator.
The church’s seminar was part of its first-ever Kairos gathering. According to the Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Kairos is the “Greek term for ‘time’ denoting a special significantly critical point in human history.”
In opening the one-hour seminar, Dr. Carter discussed statistics surrounding abortion and how this has changed since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. She also outlined for the group how the care of women has been compromised as a result. She used several recently publicized examples from around the country outlining poor maternal outcomes as a direct result of state abortion bans. Many of these cases were marked by a delay in care, in some cases, leading to maternal death.
Dr. Carter also said that the current maternal death rate in the U.S. stands at 23 in 100,000 live births, and if this number were extrapolated to a total federal ban on abortion, the number would potentially rise by 24 percent.
According to Dr. Carter, the landscape of women’s reproductive choices has changed vastly after the overturn of Roe V. Wade. “This decision disproportionality affects poorer women with fewer economic resources,” she says, “and greater than 50 percent of those seeking an abortion live below the federal poverty level. They have less resources to travel to a state where they can receive care.”
Dr. Carter also relayed stories from colleagues and friends in practice around the country who feel unable to help vulnerable patients seeking abortion care and who fear simply counseling and advocating for those patients because of near total bans amid hostile attitudes toward pro-choice individuals. Many physicians have left these areas, causing a worsening crisis of ‘maternal care deserts’ where women travel many miles to seek routine OBGYN care.
“I’m so lucky to be practicing medicine in New York State, and I just cannot fathom the repercussions of a federal ban,” Dr. Carter told the folks at the seminar.
Other take-aways from the Hitchcock seminar include the following:
* Pro-choice does not mean anti-birth.
* States with some of the most restrictive bans on abortion also have some of the lowest support infrastructure for low-income individuals (including nutritional support programs and paid maternity leave).
* The abortion discussion is hard with many valid emotions. These discussions about facts are so important and may help us all to find common ground.
No matter what the results are in the widely reported very close November presidential election and the other races for the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, the debates and editorials about the Supreme Court’s decision about Roe v. Wade are more than likely to be with us for a very, very long time.
The reason: it’s personal.
BAR to Consider Plans for a Home on Non-Existent Lot
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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The building moratorium is over and new building code will go into effect in January 2025. In September, the Scarsdale land use boards have busy schedules to consider a host of applications.
Here’s what’s planned:
At their September 9 meeting, the Board of Architectural Review will consider plans for a new home at a non-existent address. Why? The developer at a wet property at 46 Lincoln Road and 101 Carthage Road, has been seeking to divide the two lots into three since January. He has met opposition from neighbors who are aware that the property includes a stream and outflows from that watercourse regularly flood the downstream neighbors.
While the Planning Board has not approved the subdivision, that has not stopped the developer from doing and end run around Village procedures and submitting house plans to the BAR to build a home at 103 Carthage Road, the third phantom lot.. Though officials at the Building Department say this is just a “preliminary review,” neighbors fear that if the BAR approves the plans it will give more steam to the developer’s case with the Planning Board. In addition, since more stringent setback rules go into effect in January 2024, the builder may be attempting to have this home approved under the old building code. Furthermore will this set a new precedent? This move appears to be just the kind of maneuver that the new procedural rules, put into place after the building moratorium, sought to avert. Instead, the BAR will review house plans for a lot that currently does not exist.
The Planning Board will hold both a special meeting on September 19 as well as their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday September 25.
At the special meeting on September 19, the Planning Board will give their full attention to a highly controversial application to build 8 homes with pools in a wet area at 80 Garden Road. In order to raise the ground level above the high water table, the developer is proposing to truck in tons of land fill to raise the site by four feet and contain it with a retaining wall. As the Village’s water infrastructure is not sufficient to meet the needs of the eight homes, they each will have a private well that will be up to the homeowners to maintain.
The developer claims that the “Project will not adversely impact neighboring properties as the analysis concludes that ground water levels will either be reduced or remain the same.”
They also claim a “reduction in the rate of runoff from the project site for all storm events (1, 2, 10-, 25-, 50-and 100-yearstorm events).”
Neighbors in this flood prone area of made vociferous objections to the plan since it was first proposed in 2018. However the Planning Board continues to give them continuous opportunities to make their case for development.
We received a report of the fees that the Village has spent to date for consulting fees from Engineering Firm Mott McDonald. In addition to Village staff conferring with the firm, the applicants have met with the consultants to craft plans that they believe will pass muster with the Planning Board. According to the Village Manager, monies to pay for this work are put into escrow by the applicant. Records show that to date over $40,000 has been spent on engineers fees to review the project.
Then on September 25 the Planning Board will hold their regular meeting where they said they would re-consider the proposed 3 lot subdivision on Lincoln and Carthage Road. That agenda is not yet posted on the Village website. But neighbors are up in arms that the Planning Board has ignored their pleas and failed to recognize the existing flooding on their streets and in their homes. They fear that the subdivision will exacerbate the flooding by diverting the watercourse through this property.
Records show that the Village has already spent $13,668 reviewing this project with their engineering consultant. The applicant regularly meets with the same consulting engineers. Therefore, the same engineer that has been retained to represent the Village’s interest to protect neighbors, is also working with the developer to design plans to gain approval by the board. The question is, who is representing you?
Mia Laboy Scores Lone Goal in Soccer Team Win Over Ossining Sept. 12
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- Written by Dave Taber
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Senior forward Mia Laboy (4) celebrates after scoring her goal.The Scarsdale High girls soccer team won a hard-fought game against Ossining on Thursday September 12. The Raiders scored about halfway through the second half and held on for the 1-0 win. Mia Laboy, one of the Raiders four captains, scored the lone goal after she broke away from the Ossining goalie and shot while fending off two more defenders. Scarsdale next plays at John Jay East Fishkill on Saturday 9/14.
Photos by Dave Taber. See more here.
Senior Captain Allison Kahn (6) fights for the ball
Mia Laboy (4) chases down a long pass.
Senior Lexie Kiley (17), also a captain, just misses on a long range shot.
Allison Kahn (6) battles again with #7, this time going for a header off a corner kick
Junior midfielder Leah Brown (9) takes the ball down the sideline.
Junior Talia Arovas (26) strikes a goal kick.
Junior midfielder Stella Van Arsdale (14) scans the field.
Junior defender Salma Sherrell (12) hits a goal kick.
Stella Van Arsdale (14) concentrates on her volley.
The 4th captain, defender Naomi Fischer (5) takes a free kick.
Senior goalie Lily Tessler (35) gets ready to make a save.
BAR Fails to Protect Historic Black Oak Tree Despite Pleas from Neighbors and Experts
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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On August 12, 2024 the Scarsdale's Board of Architectural Review (BAR) approved the developer’s plan for 21 Autenrieth, allowing construction activity that will threaten the survival of a black oak tree that has been living in the front yard for around 300 years, since colonial times.
Surrounding neighbors, concerned that the proposed construction would kill the tree, had hired arborist Bill Logan to provide expert consultation. In his resulting report, Mr. Logan stated that, “This oak is an extraordinary specimen, among the largest oaks in Westchester County,” and recommended that, “If you want to be sure that this fine tree can be preserved, the best thing would be to keep back disturbance beyond the Critical Root Zone (CRZ), whose radius is approximately 58 feet.”
Over many months, neighbors pleaded with the BAR to rework the developer’s plans so as to assure that the oak’s future would not be compromised by construction. The neighbors did not oppose the proposed two story addition; however, they did urge the BAR to deny the construction of a new two-car garage and new driveway in the front yard near the tree because that construction will damage the tree's roots within the 58 foot critical root zone. The house currently has two two-car garages (i.e. four indoor garage spaces), and neighbors had hoped that these spaces could be used instead of building a new garage in the front yard.
In supporting the neighbors’ concerns, the Board of Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, a community based not-for-profit, wrote a letter to the BAR requesting that the BAR exercise its authority to protect the tree “…from any risk of short or long-term harm as a result of the proposed renovation.” In its letter, the FOSP states that, “The proposed construction of a duplicative new garage and new driveway in close proximity to this black oak would ruin an idyllic front yard as well as pose unnecessary risk to this centerpiece tree of the park-like neighborhood of Old Scarsdale.” Importantly, the Board emphasizes that, “While Scarsdale is losing over 1,000 mature trees every year, business as usual cannot continue.” (August 7, 2024 FOSP letter to BAR)
Unfortunately, by approving the developer’s plans, the BAR rejected the pleas to require the most protective and common sense solution, which would be to keep construction out of the tree’s critical root zone. Once again, our environment takes second place to a developer’s interest.
