Blog about Town of Greenburgh politics and history
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Curbing Issue
I've heard that the forum continued long after I left at 9 pm and that the issue of the curbing stones was discussed. Does anyone want to summarize that topic, or anything else of specific concern to our neighborhood that was raised? Dan
Tony and I stayed at the meeting until the bitter end. We did discuss the deplorable condition of the curbstones. I suggested that the town should have done a better job supervising the work done by the outside contractor. I spoke of my experience this summer walking on the lower portion of Mercer Avenue between Findlay and Charlotte where I encountered the roadway crumbling under my feet. Two days later, in the aftermath of Hurricane Bill, the street actually buckled in the very same location. The roadway beds in Manor Woods are being compromised by water seeping under the unfinished curbstones. With winter setting in, this situation can only get far worse. This was a case of the Town being penny wise and pound foolish in choosing a contractor who did not do a thorough job. We will now first have to do an expensive repair job to remedy the problems caused by the shoddy work. Wasted tax dollars. I promised Paul Feiner an email describing the situation with photos and followed up the very same evening. I received a reply from Paul the next morning with a copy to the Commissioner of Public Works, Victor Carosi. Mr. Corosi emailed me earlier this evening saying he will look into our concerns. Tony and I had offered to accompany Mr. Corosi on a tour of the neighborhood but apparently, he is planning to send out an inspector and not planning to include us. More Town run-around?
Meantime, I also go an email earlier from Chief Kapica with petition forms to be signed by the neighbors requesting the Town install parking signs restricting the parking on all the streets in Manor Woods. Attached is a copy of his email. Please let me know if there are enough neighbors willing to sign this before I go out door to door. I am happy to organize the petition drive if this is what everyone would like.
"As discussed at our recent meeting on October 15th, attached is a copy of a generic petition that can be used to request that parking restrictions be enacted on any street. Since placing restrictions on a few streets will only push the problem to those that do not have similar restrictions, I would like to have them apply to the entire area if possible. I would like to accomplish this by individual location so each petition should be for one specific street only. Please recall that since the restrictions will affect all residents, we require a fairly significant majority of the families residing on the street to request that they be placed. Although we have each address in our database, to help us determine this, we ask that you specify the total number of families residing on the street in the appropriate location on the petition. Should you require additional space for signatures on a particular street, please use a completely new petition. DO NOT attach an additional list of signatures to a petition since this does not ensure that the person signing read the petition. After all signatures have been collected, simply enter the number of pages for that street in the upper right hand corner of the petition (i.e., 1 of 2; 2 of 2, etc.). We only require one person’s signature per family. If two families reside at one residence and both are in favor of the restrictions, there should be two signatures for that address. Only a single signature per family per address shall be counted. Please feel free to call my office or email me should you have any questions. I can be reached directly at 682-5340. Completed petitions may either be mailed to my attention at Greenburgh Police Headquarters, 188 Tarrytown Road, White Plains, New York 10607, or dropped off at the main desk for me any time of the day." Chief John Kapica Lynn Klein Riotto, 63 Mercer Avenue
Tony and I stayed at the meeting until the bitter end. We did discuss the deplorable condition of the curbstones. I suggested that the town should have done a better job supervising the work done by the outside contractor. I spoke of my experience this summer walking on the lower portion of Mercer Avenue between Findlay and Charlotte where I encountered the roadway crumbling under my feet. Two days later, in the aftermath of Hurricane Bill, the street actually buckled in the very same location. The roadway beds in Manor Woods are being compromised by water seeping under the unfinished curbstones. With winter setting in, this situation can only get far worse. This was a case of the Town being penny wise and pound foolish in choosing a contractor who did not do a thorough job. We will now first have to do an expensive repair job to remedy the problems caused by the shoddy work. Wasted tax dollars. I promised Paul Feiner an email describing the situation with photos and followed up the very same evening. I received a reply from Paul the next morning with a copy to the Commissioner of Public Works, Victor Carosi. Mr. Corosi emailed me earlier this evening saying he will look into our concerns. Tony and I had offered to accompany Mr. Corosi on a tour of the neighborhood but apparently, he is planning to send out an inspector and not planning to include us. More Town run-around?
ReplyDeleteMeantime, I also go an email earlier from Chief Kapica with petition forms to be signed by the neighbors requesting the Town install parking signs restricting the parking on all the streets in Manor Woods. Attached is a copy of his email. Please let me know if there are enough neighbors willing to sign this before I go out door to door. I am happy to organize the petition drive if this is what everyone would like.
"As discussed at our recent meeting on October 15th, attached is a copy of a generic petition that can be used to request that parking restrictions be enacted on any street. Since placing restrictions on a few streets will only push the problem to those that do not have similar restrictions, I would like to have them apply to the entire area if possible. I would like to accomplish this by individual location so each petition should be for one specific street only. Please recall that since the restrictions will affect all residents, we require a fairly significant majority of the families residing on the street to request that they be placed. Although we have each address in our database, to help us determine this, we ask that you specify the total number of families residing on the street in the appropriate location on the petition. Should you require additional space for signatures on a particular street, please use a completely new petition. DO NOT attach an additional list of signatures to a petition since this does not ensure that the person signing read the petition. After all signatures have been collected, simply enter the number of pages for that street in the upper right hand corner of the petition (i.e., 1 of 2; 2 of 2, etc.). We only require one person’s signature per family. If two families reside at one residence and both are in favor of the restrictions, there should be two signatures for that address. Only a single signature per family per address shall be counted. Please feel free to call my office or email me should you have any questions. I can be reached directly at 682-5340. Completed petitions may either be mailed to my attention at Greenburgh Police Headquarters, 188 Tarrytown Road, White Plains, New York 10607, or dropped off at the main desk for me any time of the day." Chief John Kapica
Lynn Klein Riotto, 63 Mercer Avenue