The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Briarcliff Manor

Let’s Play Platform Tennis

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If you haven’t yet heard about the newfound popularity of Platform Tennis, or Paddle as it’s affectionately known, then you’re missing out on a fantastic workout and very social sport. I recently spoke with Charles Mingoia, who plays in the Westchester Platform Tennis League (WPTL) about everything paddle and got an inside look into the game and how people can join in on the fun locally right here in Briarcliff Manor.

Platform Tennis was created almost a century ago in Scarsdale when in 1928 James Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard, two tennis enthusiasts, wanted to find a way to enjoy racquet sports during the colder weather months. They built a raised platform, slightly smaller than a regulation tennis court and bought some balls and wooden paddles. They enclosed the platform with chicken wire to prevent the balls from landing in the snow and a new sport was born. Paddle is particularly popular in the Chicago area but is now seeing a resurgence in the place in which it was born.

These days, the game, which has similar rules to tennis, is still played on a raised decking – now made of aluminum and with a sandpaper-like grit to it, surrounded by the screens. If the ball hits within the court and bounces off the screen, you can still play it. The great thing about paddle is that even if you’re not very skilled in tennis you can still play with those who are – the screens help to equalize things a bit.

The game is known for being a very social one as well as one that can be played year-round, even in the cold weather. And one of the main reasons for that is the warming hut. Sounds cozy right? After games, many of the players can be found in the warming hut to relax, have drinks and just hang out and chat. “Our courts here in Briarcliff are public courts (located in Law Memorial Park). We have two courts and a warming hut that we built through private funds and donated to the Village. The social aspect of the game is much better with the hut.”

The WPTL is comprised of 10 divisions of 7-8 teams each and is part of the American Platform Tennis Association (APTA). The Briarcliff home courts have 4 teams in the league, in different divisions. Games are typically played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Briarcliff teams mostly play those from various country clubs around Westchester. There’s a women’s league that typically plays during the daytime with some women also playing in the evening division matchups. Mingoia got started with the sport in 2016 and was quickly hooked on it. “It’s something fun to do. It had been a while since I had played in competitive matches before this, but I learned pretty quickly. There’s a lot of strategy to the game but at the same time, the screens help as an equalizer. At the time I started playing there were 19 permit holders in town and now there are almost 100.”

The Briarcliff courts are dedicated to Ernie Pacchiana who passed away in 2022 and who in the 1970’s introduced paddle tennis to Northern Westchester. He also founded the Briarcliff Rotary Club chapter – sensing a need for something new and then creating it. The courts have become a place of not only friendly competition but also lots of social interaction. In addition to the weeknight matches through the WPTL, people can go on the weekends to play pick-up matches. “Once we got the hut, we would start hosting special events like Friday night couples paddle. It’s a great thing for the town – it’s very social,” says Mingoia.

As for how those new to the sport can get involved. “It’s mostly word of mouth. We’re always looking for new players. Maybe you’re new in town, or you played tennis in college.” And you don’t need to be the best athlete out there to play. “You don’t need to be super strong or super fit. We have an 81-year-old playing who loves it and we have college kids too.” The group found a big uptick in popularity during Covid, because it was something active and social that people could enjoy outdoors. And now they’ll scout for new players or just garner interest from curious onlookers at the courts. The group hosts an end-of-year paddle party as well as special tournaments throughout the year.

As for the warming hut, Mingoia views it as the best public one in the county. “We have a TV, fridge, refreshments. etc. People are always in the hut and hanging out.” And even if you’re not the most skilled paddle player, everyone’s an equal when it comes to enjoying some post-game fun.

Mezzapalooza – A Helping Hand Through Music

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The very dedicated Mezzapalooza Board of Directors of Briarcliff. (L-R): Dan Shine, Mike Vincent, Andy Hite, Marc Milano, Matt Cooleen, Sergio Prosperino, Chris Fenimore, Matt Sesti. Not pictured: Peter Veritas and Brendan Kenney.  

If you love listening to live music outdoors – especially as the weather warms up and want to support a worthwhile cause at the same time – come out to Mezzapalooza on Saturday, May 11 at the Law Memorial Park Pavilion in Briarcliff Manor. Back after a four-year hiatus, the event promises a night full of music, food, and fun – all in support of Ossining resident Scott Rowe and his family.

Mezzapalooza (a 501c3) was originally created in 2012 after the tragic passing of Briarcliff resident John Mezzatesta. The community came together to honor and lend a hand to the family of one of Briarcliff’s favorite sons. As a testament to John’s memory, Mezzapalooza unites the community each year in support of a local family by offering its help and support. Mezzapalooza is back for 2024, promising an amazing evening to help support the Rowe family.

When the event first began in 2012, it was in a very organic way. As Marc Milano, member of the Executive Board says, “Mezzatesta was a legend of Briarcliff – active in everything from Little League to the fire department. The community was shocked by his death. A group got together and wanted to do something for his family and to honor him.” That’s when a few local dads that happened to play in bands decided to have a big “Battle of the Bands” party to help raise money for the family. Attendees enjoyed live music, food, and a live auction. It was so successful that the Board said, let’s do it again next year and find another family to help.

Milano was a member of one of the original bands from the inaugural event – The Lost Souls, which will be part of the line-up again this year. “Mezzapalooza came to be known as helping hands through music, as well as a village community event. We wanted to keep raising money for families in town who could really use it.” The event last took place in 2019 at St. Theresa’s Church. But then COVID hit, and the event went dormant for a few years. As Milano explains, “This past year, there were some younger families in town who had heard about Mezzapalooza and wanted to bring it back to help another local family. We reconstituted the Board and learned of a family going through a struggle. John Mezzatesta was a lion of Briarcliff – everyone knew him. The Rowe family is like that for Ossining.”

Scott Rowe, a resident of Briarcliff Manor, has an immense zest for life – and family means everything to him. Unfortunately, since July 2022, when Rowe was found to have several pulmonary embolisms, he has been in and out of the ER and the ICU and is fighting every day. He continues to be in the care of the Briarcliff Manor Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. His constant support system includes wife and high school sweetheart Michelle, daughters Maddie (19), Lily (14) and family dog Boomer. Proceeds from Mezzapalooza will benefit Scott and his beautiful family.

The Mezzapalooza Board of Directors is comprised of a large group of long time Briarcliff residents who are active in all areas of the Village and are quite generous in donating their time. The founding members, Andy Hite, Matt Cooleen, and Mike Vincent played a huge role in getting this remarkable event started in 2012 and their guidance has been instrumental in the current reboot.

Mezzapalooza takes place on Saturday, May 11 at The Pavilion at Law Memorial Park in Briarcliff Manor. From 6-11 p.m., guests can enjoy live music from bands No Mersey, Orange Jelly Project, and The Lost Souls – all donating their time for this truly worthwhile cause. Guests (21+ only) may BYO and there will also be a pizza truck, cash bar, plus a live auction and raffle of some amazing items and experiences.

For tickets and more information, please visit mezzapalooza.org

Words that Inspire at the Poetry Café at the Briarcliff Manor Public Library

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Zach Gerstein, founder of BMPL’s Poetry Café
PHOTO BY EVAN TRAINOR

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” said William Wordsworth in 1798. Centuries later, poetry may not be flying off the shelves, but there is still a massive and loyal audience. Since October 2022, the Briarcliff Manor Public Library (BMPL) has been hosting Poetry Café events where poets from all walks of life can come, share, and be inspired by one another’s works. And you do not have to be a professional to participate.

The café was started by Zach Gerstein, the library’s Reference Librarian, who stated, “I have been hosting poetry events since autumn 2009, when I ran the Peripatetic Poetry Corps at the Bean Runner Café in Peekskill. Since then, I’ve done series in Mahopac and Putnam Valley.” Gerstein continued, “The Poetry Café here at the BMPL was modeled after the very successful poetry café at the Florida Public Library, in Orange County, NY, which I have attended for nearly 15 years”.

Robert Milby, who was Orange County’s Poet Laureate from 2017-19 has hosted many of the Florida Library poetry cafés over the years. They began there in 2006 after a poetry reading series was suggested by its former Library Director, Madelyn Folino. The library hosts one reading per season and it consists of featured poets and an open reading, all hosted by Milby. The featured poets tend to be local to the greater Hudson Valley and the series has flourished after almost 18 years.

Gerstein has organized five cafés at BMPL since October 2022. Past cafés have featured poets Mary Wu, Bill Greenfield, Malcolm Netburn, Sean Singer, Sarah Bracey White, David Rigsbee, Vincent Bell, Jared Harél, Jared Beloff, Ellen Devlin, and Juan Mobili. The April 2024 event is slated to include Barb Jennes and Harriet Shenkman and there is a café in the works for July with Mary Lou Butler and Kristine Esser Slentz.

A great deal of enthusiasm for the cafés has been expressed by both the poets and the public at large. Sarah Bracey White says, “This was an opportunity to go where no one knows me and I can be part of a writing community. There is no judgement and people are responding to the poets’ content. It encourages people to express themselves through poetry. Poets in the audience don’t feel intimidated by others – it’s an encouraging environment for everyone to share their works.” White was happily surprised during her first visit to the BMPL Café when she headed to the second floor and saw a quote of her own stenciled onto the wall. It reads “Libraries showed me the world beyond my limited horizon.”

Bill Greenfield has been participating in various poetry readings throughout the Hudson Valley for the past ten years, which is how he met Gerstein. He describes his work as “down to earth” and his fourth book of poetry, The Ever-Shrinking Universe was recently published by Broadstone Books.

Mary Wu sees the café as a way to make poetry more accessible and less intimidating as well as bring the community together through artistic expression. “When I was growing up, poetry always seemed like this esoteric and mysterious genre of writing. However, it is thanks to Reference Librarian Zach Gerstein and (former) Library Director Donna Pesce for dispelling this myth by bringing the poetry cafe to the Briarcliff Manor Public Library”, Wu said. “I had the pleasure of sharing my poems from my poetry book Kaliedoscope (available on Amazon) at the very first poetry café that had an amazing turnout of audience members and supporters and eclectic and gifted poets sharing their works and writings. It was such a warm and welcoming place to be that shed light to the power of words through poetry.”

Reaction to the café has been extremely enthusiastic. They’re a wonderful way to help bring community members together. Gerstein said, “So far, most people prefer to just listen to our featured readers instead of signing up for the open mic” – but perhaps that may change in the near future. Upcoming café events will take place exclusively on Saturday afternoons, as that time slot tends to work best. People enjoy the social aspect of coming to the café. “Usually, they begin to arrive about 30 minutes before the readings and stick around afterwards for a good long while to chit-chat.”

The BMPL poetry cafés have become a new staple for the library and its community. They have brought together many talented writers sharing their stories and have hopefully inspired others in attendance to do the same. As White told me, “Life seduces my pen and poetry helps me arrange my thoughts about it.”

Greening Briarcliff is the Environmental Advisory Council’s Mission

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Amy Karpati, Ph.D., chair, Briarcliff Environmental Advisory Council (EAC)
PHOTOS BY DONNA MUELLER

Briarcliff Manor is getting more green. And more purple, yellow, and orange too.

The village recently planted a variety of pollinator plants, such as purple cone-flowered echinacea, black-eyed Susans, and orange-flowered milkweed to attract butterflies, in the area outside the Briarcliff Village Hall.

The plants “attract pollinators and they’re good for the environment,” said Dr. Amy Karpati, chair of the new Briarcliff Environmental Advisory Council (EAC). *The EAC was established by the village in Fall, 2022, succeeding the horticulture committee, with the mission of preserving and planting trees and indigenous flora in the central business district, in town parks and on walkways, walking trails and green spaces, and educating residents on garden cultivation, sustainable landscaping and pest control.

Working with the EAC, the village planted 30 to 35 native trees in parks and around the village’s youth center on Lu Van Lu Road and will determine where to plant new trees in the so-called “Tree Streets” neighborhood (including Oak, Maple, and Larch roads), to mitigate the potential for flooding.

“We need more trees to help with stormwater control and to help stabilize soils. Several tributaries of the Pocantico River run through Briarcliff and they can flood. Pocantico River goes through Jackson Road Park and the neighborhood bordering it.”

Possible tree species that could be planted include Swamp White Oak and River Birch, Karpati said.

These are trees “that can grow in areas that are intermittently wet and dry. There’s a general acknowledgement that we need more trees. The village asks us what species (of tree) we’d recommend,” she explained. “We’re collaborating with the village on future tree planting projects, providing guidance and recommendations on which species to plant and where to plant them.”

Karpati is an adjunct professor in the graduate sustainability management program at Columbia University. She earned a PhD in ecology and evolution from Rutgers.

“Briarcliff has a renewed interest in sustainability,” Karpati pointed out. “What I would love to see happen is to make Briarcliff a model of suburban sustainability,” she said, where the village makes “green spaces that are connected and walkable and bike-able. Briarcliff can remodel the streetscape and make it climate-resilient.”

In an email, Karpati described her vision in more detail: “I think it is important for the EAC – and the village – to really think outside of the box and think about what is possible regarding nature and natural resources in our community. We can bring nature into the places we live and work. In this way, we can have a two-pronged approach to conservation and sustainability, in which we, one, protect the existing forests, natural areas and green spaces and two, enhance biodiversity and ecosystem function within our built environment, reconciling our needs with the needs of other species, even in business districts and downtown streetscapes. We can protect what we already have and also create more nature. This would mean thinking about green infrastructure and nature-based solutions: green roofs, vegetated stormwater swales, street trees, rain gardens, pollinator gardens, etc.”

Another area of the EAC’s focus will be sustainable landscaping.

“We advocate for reducing the area of your lawn in favor of wildflower meadow habitat,” Karpati said. “We hope to provide more training in 2024 on how to get rid of grass, how to put in plants that are good for wildflower meadows, and how to make your yard more eco-friendly and sustainable. The blatant use of pesticides contributes to the decline in birds, bees, and moths,” she explained.

Native wildflowers and native grasses have roots that penetrate deep into the soil, which means they are more able to reach water sources. This makes them more drought resistant than turf grass, such as Kentucky blue grass, which has shallow roots. Turf grass needs more water and is susceptible to drying out.

“Lawns have so much potential for nature conservation,” she said.

One of the critical issues with current lawn care practices is the disposal of leaf litter every autumn. Firefly, butterfly, and moth larvae bury themselves in leaf litter, Karpati said. When homeowners gather up and throw away their leaf litter, they’re also throwing out the larvae. That’s how these species disappear from your lawn.

Moths and butterflies are important pollinator species. Concerning fireflies, “they have significant ecological and cultural value,” Karpati wrote in an email. “Ecologically, they are beneficial insects, as the larvae are voracious predators that gobble up snails and slugs, benefiting gardens and agricultural lands. Culturally, they are emblematic of childhood summers. Their twinkling bioluminescence is a source of wonder for kids and adults and connects us to the nature around us.

“They can be good ambassadors for suburban conservation, as their populations have been in decline, and it would be quite a shame to lose them from our neighborhoods,” she stated.

Karpati grew up on Long Island and frequently went on camping trips with her family, which helped her develop a connection with nature early in her childhood. She has worked as a director of science and programs at the Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining and a conservation biologist and environmental advocate in the New Jersey Pinelands.

At Columbia, she teaches how to create sustainable environments in urban areas, building green infrastructure in cities and enhancing biodiversity. She explained the presence of pigeons in cities, a question many walkers face every day as they make their way through New York City.

“The reason why they (pigeons) thrive is that tall buildings mimic the steep rock cliff sides that are their native habitats,” she said.

“I’m fascinated with how nature works. It’s cool to research how species adapt to their urban environments and how to bring ecosystem management back into disturbed landscapes.”

*Briarcliff Environmental Advisory Council: Dr. Amy Karpati, Brooke Beebe, Ernie DeMarie, Steven Kavee and Dawn Orza

Back to Calm & Peace

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Grace Bennett Photo   by Donna Mueller

While it may seem counterintuitive, ‘back to school,’ with its flurry of activities and family fun events, can also bring a renewed sense of calm and peace. Maybe that involves setting some new goals for yourself… a class, a job search, a new exercise (pickleball anyone?), eating more healthfully, joining a book club, taking in a hot new movie (or two, or three!), a live arts performance, or just browsing anew inside one of the independently owned bookstores, we are so lucky to have in abundance in northern Westchester. If this time of year brings you calm, if it brings you peace, then it’s also likely bringing you joy. Hey, run with that and accept your good fortune with a healthy dose of gratitude.

If you are dealing with hardship in any arena, and I can relate, it might also be a good time to study the art and science of resilience. At a workshop I attended on Navigating Change at Kripalu, a popular yoga and spiritual retreat in the Berkshires, we were advised to face and respect that which is difficult. The challenge, a wise instructor offered, is to shift even slightly to imagining a more positive story than the one you’re living, to eliminate obstacles (she called them ‘goblins’), and slowly take steps, even baby ones, so that the change you are seeking can become your new reality.

So with a greater sense of calm and peace, I had a great time getting these editions ready, from visiting the Miller House to help celebrate a new grant to playing pickleball in Armonk’s Lombardi Park with “the pickleball ladies.”  Kudos to Dawn Greenberg and her team for a 10th year of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, and to the Greeley Boys Swim & Dive Team who are aiming for a third NYS win (which would be unprecedented)!  More notes of congrats: to the Pleasantville Children’s Center on 50 years of excellence, and to Megan Stopera, a Curling champ in Briarcliff Manor, who could be a contender for an Olympic medal! 

As for the Inside Press, well into a 20th year, we have already shared a variety of testimonials and will continue doing so.

In fact, following dinner with a very special neighbor and friend in town – who so many know and admire as a paragon of resilience and perseverance – I asked if she’d be open to writing a testimonial about this press. And voila! I’m very proud and grateful to include Hillary Clinton’s kind words during this publishing period, with only one more ‘cycle’ to go! (Our holiday/winter 2023 editions mail November 10.)

Please enjoy all our contributors’ fine work here. Wishing you all calm and peaceful days this fall season and year round.  –  Grace