politics

Working Towards Ending Prejudice in Politics

October 21, 2016 by The Inside Press

By Katie

When I was less than a year old, my mom thrust me into Hillary Clinton’s arms so that if she ever became president, I would have been held by the first woman president of the United States. Compared to other countries, we are far behind in getting women into top political positions.

Consider Angela Merkel, who was ranked number one by Forbes as the most powerful woman in politics and has been elected to a third term as Germany’s chancellor. Germany has taken a strong stance on refugees, and she has been considered a pragmatic leader. Many consider Merkel’s success a huge step for women everywhere, as she has prevailed throughout the doubt many women leaders receive.

However, Merkel has been hesitant to promote women’s rights. She even denied being a feminist, saying, “A feminist, no. Perhaps an interesting case of a woman in power, but no feminist. Real feminists would be offended if I described myself as one.” It is sad that often women in politics have to play down their feminism in order to be taken seriously. Now, in Angela Merkel’s third term, she is starting to come around and support women’s rights, and is going to focus on improving gender equality in the workplace.

Other countries have prominent women leaders, including Taiwan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Croatia. And Sri Lanka turned heads when they elected Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960. Since then, there have been over 70 female prime ministers and presidents. However, for a world where women make up roughly half of the population, the representation is strongly lacking. But, there is hope for the future…

More recently, a woman, Theresa May, came into power in the U.K., as David Cameron stepped down. The more women politicians there are, the more accepted women will be in other positions of power. In Forbes’ List of Powerful Women, four out of the top five women from 2016 were American, showing that, in America, women are able to rise to power. Yet, the United States is one of the few progressive countries that has not had a woman leader. While the epitome of gender equality would be choosing a candidate based solely on qualifications instead of gender, the lack of a female President in the United States is telling of the prejudice women in politics (and other high-power positions) face. Let’s end the streak of over 200 years of men in power in the United States, and give young girls a role model to show them that they can dream big; living-in-the-White-House-one-day big.

Katie is a seventeen year old high school student who attends Horace Greeley. She was born and raised in Westchester County, and has seen Hillary in town on multiple occasions.

Editor’s Note: One of Seven Girls’ Essays featured in the November “If Our Neighbor Becomes President” Cover Story. The girls were directed by Keri Walsh, Ph.D., who heads the Chappaqua Summer Writing Program for Girls at the Greeley House.

Meet the Candidates for NYS Senate District 37

October 21, 2016 by Brian Donnelly

On Election Day, Nov. 8, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton aren’t the only names on North Castle voters’ ballots.

State Sen. George Latimer (D) seeks a third term as the representative for District 37 and is being challenged by Rye City Councilwoman Julie Killian (R). The mother of five is serving her second term on the city council, and spent 13 years working in finance at Merrill Lynch and CitiBank.

Latimer spent 20 years in marketing and has worked at major corporate subsidiaries of Nestlé and ITT.

While the 32 Democrats outnumber the 31 Republicans in the state Senate, Republicans hold the majority because a group of five Democrats– the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) – have caucused with the Republicans the last three election cycles.

“The IDC is going to be the fulcrum,” says Latimer, who hopes Democrats can take the majority and replace the Republican leadership with Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who represents another Westchester district –District 35.

Taxes

With the highest property taxes in the nation, Westchester voters always want to know what their elected officials plan to do about it.

Latimer, a former Rye City Council member himself, cited the middle class income-tax cut in the 2016-2017 state budget, for which he voted in favor. This lowers the rate taxpayers who earn $40,000-to-$300,000 will pay on income. When fully phased in by 2025, the rate will drop to 5.5 percent. The current rates are 6.45 percent for the $40,000-$150,000 income bracket, and 6.65 percent for the $150,000-$300,000 income bracket.

Killian says “any tax cut helps,” but added that more focus needs to be paid to making New York more welcoming to businesses, calling it one of the least business-friendly states in America.

“Making us competitive with taxes and streamlining regulation, making things simpler is a good answer,” she tells Inside Armonk, using the example of the boom in distillery businesses after the state introduced the Alcohol Production Credit to cut red tape and reduce their licensing costs.

She also takes issue with the minimum wage increase in this year’s budget, which will bring the wage floor up to $15 per hour in Westchester by 2021. While not opposed to an increase, she says $15 is too high and could cost the state jobs, especially small businesses.

“My answer would have been increase the earned income tax credit,” says Killian, whose coalition, RYE ACT, has secured more than $1 million in grants to address the opioid epidemic in her community.

Unfunded Mandates

When it comes to unfunded mandates, both candidates agree the state, which has promised it would offer relief, needs to live up to its word.

Latimer supports eliminating the MTA payroll tax on both counties and municipalities, and phasing out the Medicaid mandate placed on counties.

“In Westchester County, it’s a $220 million hit to the county budget,” he says, adding that he is a co-sponsor on a bill to address this mandate.

Killian wants to see relief for mandates “big and small.” As an example she cites the Wicks law, which she says is extremely costly for school districts. It requires New York districts to hire four separate contractors for school construction (a general contractor plus contractors for electrical, HVAC and plumbing).

“It just hamstrings how you can manage your construction projects,” she says.

Ethics Reform

Both candidates agree the biggest obstacle, if elected, will be accomplishing ethics reform. But, they have different strategies to address the subject, which has dominated headlines for more than a year–more than 30 current and former New York state office holders have been convicted, sanctioned or accused of wrongdoing in the last decade, according to the New York Times.

“The day that I decided to run was Jan. 22 of 2015,” Killian says. “And I woke up and saw on my iPhone that Shelly Silver was arrested, and I said to myself, ‘I should think about running for state Senate.’”

Silver, the former Democratic speaker of the state Assembly and one of the most high-profile corruption cases, was convicted of fraud, money laundering and extortion.

Latimer – who also served on the Rye City Council for four years – cites three core problems that have allowed this culture of corruption to fester: the concentration of power in too few hands; the flow of money –both public and private campaign money –that goes to those most powerful legislators; and the excessive partisanship.

“I run again because I believe I can be part of a team of people that will change the equation,” he says. “We’ve done it before in the [Westchester] County legislature. I saw what reform looked like and it was a positive.”

Latimer served 13 years on the county legislature and in 1998 became the first Democrat to serve as its chairman.

What do the candidates plan to do to weed out corruption?

Julie Killian says terms limits, and has made this her flagship issue.

“I believe in citizen legislators,” she says, referring to politicians who continue working while holding public office. “I’m not looking to go up to Albany and spend the rest of my life there.” Killian says she will draft legislation imposing term limits of eight to 12 years–terms run two years for state Senators, who are paid an annual base salary of $79,500 a year. “I will vote for it, it has a value, but it is not the panacea and if it isn’t accompanied by other things you won’t have real reform,” Latimer says, adding that he’s never seen a term limits bill come up because leadership in the state legislature doesn’t want it.

The former four-term state Assemblyman

argued that many caught in corruption cases have served just one or two terms.

To that, Killian asks, “Why can’t we be simple?”

“Let’s have a bill on one thing and one thing only, something really important,” she suggests. “They’re always throwing in this stuff so [the Republicans and Democrats] can mess with each other…It’s a lot of games and I’m personally tired of it.”

Latimer maintained that, to address term limits, campaign contributions must also be addressed. The maximum is $10,000 for a Senate candidate and $4,000 for an Assembly candidate.

“That means you’re going to have to interact with everyday people more regularly, as opposed to going to a handful of people who can give you $10,000 a pop,” he said, suggesting $2,000 as a cap.

Then there’s the LLC loophole, which allows limited liability corporations (LLCs), which are subsets of a larger corporation, to each donate the maximum amount to a candidate. This, Latimer says, allows corporations to contribute unlimited amounts of money. “Now, you might say, well, what’s that got to do with corruption?’” Latimer said. “[Former Senate Majority Leader Dean] Skelos and the Silver trials were for corruption, and in both cases they shook down real estate entities, who had multiple LLCs, for money.”

Education

State aid to schools increased by 6.5 percent to $24.8 billion in the 2016-17 budget.

“I have advocated for and we’ve been able to see some significant funding for school districts that I represent,” Latimer said. “And particularly in the eliminations, or the ending of reduction in school aid that was created back in 2010–Gap Elimination Adjustments.”

Killian also supports eliminating the policy, which was enacted in 2010 to make up for the state’s shortfall by reallocating state aid already designated in the budget for schools. But she said Westchester still isn’t getting its fair share because of the formula for cost of living – the regional cost index – which the state uses to determine where school aid goes.

“That’s just a calculation and right away that would get us more money,” Killian said.

“The cost index is representative of Kingston and Poughkeepsie.”

Killian said she doesn’t hear anyone, including her opponent, talking about this.

“I’ve fought this issue for years,” Latimer

countered. “Westchester is treated like an upstate community because the Long Island and New York City leadership [in the state legislature] doesn’t choose to understand what makes us unique,” he said.

“We get real change when we change who is in charge.”

Regardless of who is in the majority, Killian said she will make her voice heard.

“I feel confident that I can work with anybody up there,” Killian said. “But, I’m not afraid to speak out.”

In addition to North Castle, District 37 includes the cities of New Rochelle, Rye, White Plains and Yonkers, and the towns of Harrison, Mamaroneck, Rye, Bedford and Eastchester.

Killian is running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Reform party lines. Latimer is running on the Democrat, Working Families and Women’s Equality party lines.

Brian Donnelly was born and raised in Westchester. He is a freelance reporter, videographer and social media specialist, whose hobbies include riding bicycles, waves and rooftop hammocks.

Assemblyman Buchwald on Albany, the Minimum Wage and Raising a Family in Westchester

June 3, 2016 by The Inside Press

By Andrew Vitelli

The man who represents New York’s 93rd Assembly District entered politics in 2009, with the economy at rock bottom and Americans’ trust in government in a dive that lasts until today. Assemblyman David Buchwald, a Democrat whose district spans from Harrison in the south to Westchester’s border with Putnam in the north and includes both North Castle and New Castle, has found that people’s faith in government to accomplish even the simplest task is close to zero.

“Unfortunately today, a lot of folks have such low expectations for government that even to get a phone call or email returned either surprises them or pleases them,” Buchwald, elected to the Assembly in 2012, said in an interview with the Inside Press at his Mount Kisco office. “My goal is not just to be responsive but also to help address the underlying issues that folks are contacting me about.”

Part of restoring trust, Buchwald says, is just being responsive to citizens’ concerns. He points to an Armonk woman who was having trouble with her Medicaid due to a computer glitch and a Harrison man who wanted more attention paid to the POW flag.

“There’s no better feeling in the world than to take a problem that a constituent felt was intractable before they contacted me and to use the authority of my office to solve that problem,” he says. “I truly take to heart the mantra, which I repeat all the time at my office, that I have 133,000 bosses.”

But Buchwald, a White Plains resident, understands restoring trust in government will require more than just constituent services. In recent years, New York State has been plagued by corruption, with many of Albany’s most powerful figures of yesteryear going to the big house for violating the public’s trust. Five years ago, Senator Vincent Leibell, whose district overlapped with parts of Buchwald’s current district, was convicted of felony corruption charges. Most recently, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption. Since his first year in office, Buchwald has been pushing for a constitutional amendment to strip government officials of their pensions if they are convicted of a felony relating to their role in government. A previous bill, which was passed in 2011, achieved this only for officials who took office after that point.

“There, unfortunately, are a handful of folks who over time haven’t lived up to their end of the oath of office that they took,” Buchwald explains. “And my view is that those corrupt officials should not be automatically entitled to their taxpayer-funded pension.”

Changing the state’s constitution is a tall task–it must pass both the Assembly and the Senate twice, in consecutive terms, before going before the voters. So far the two chambers have been unable to agree on the language. There’s been some opposition to the bill from organized labor out of fear that any changes to pension rules could set a dangerous precedent. “My view is the exact opposite,” Buchwald asserts. “My view is that as long as New Yorkers continue to read articles about corrupt officials sitting in jail collecting their state pensions, that is what erodes support for public pensions.”

Now in his fourth year in office Buchwald, one of Albany’s youngest lawmakers at 37 years old, holds a joint degree in law and public policy. Buchwald would seem ill-suited for today’s anger and braggadocio-filled politics; he often appears more comfortable explaining the nuance of his position than delivering soundbites, and even his criticism of his legislations’ opponents is measured and at times sympathetic. If there’s one thing he seems to disdain, it’s empty rhetoric and those who employ it.

At the Gra in School on New York Primary Day: David Buchwald with Hillary Clinton. Ann Styles Brochstein/Hillary NOW Photo — At the Grafflin School on New York Primary Day: David Buchwald with Hillary Clinton.
Ann Styles Brochstein/Hillary NOW Photo

Buchwald’s Road to Politics

Buchwald, who grew up in Larchmont, recalls being Mamaroneck High School’s senior class senator in 1996, the year he graduated. It would be nearly another decade and a half before he’d make another run at elected office, but Buchwald says his interest in public policy dates back to his childhood.

“I just thoroughly enjoyed reading the newspaper and observing the world around me,” Buchwald remembers. “And growing up in a family where your professional life is made most meaningful when you are serving the public at large or those in need of support. That’s something I took to heart from a young age.”

Buchwald comes from a family of legal minds; his mother, Naomi Reice Buchwald, is a federal judge in the Southern District of New York while his father, Don, is a former assistant United States attorney. David went to Yale as a physics major but by sophomore year knew a career in physics wasn’t in his future.

“I never found a particular branch of physics that I was interested in devoting my life to,” Buchwald says. “And that’s really what you need to do in order to go on to graduate school.”

Buchwald began actively moving towards public policy, first working for NERA, an economic consulting firm in White Plains, before returning to school. He studied public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, earning an MA and a law degree from Harvard Law School in a joint four-year program with the goal of becoming a practicing lawyer.

Buchwald came out of law school as a tax attorney, practicing at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Buchwald said it was after graduate school that he began getting involved in area non-profits and going to local Democratic Party meetings, campaigning on behalf of other candidates. Up to this point, Buchwald had not envisioned himself running for office, but warmed quickly to the idea when the opportunity arose. “It was very natural when some folks in White Plains approached me to run for our city’s Common Council,” Buchwald says. “I very gladly took up that challenge.”

Tumultuous Times in White Plains

Buchwald was one of three candidates, all Democrats, elected to the council in 2009, beating two Republicans in a city with more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans. His first year turned out to be a tumultuous one for the city. Adam Bradley, the mayor at the time, was arrested on domestic violence charges in February 2010, fewer than two months after Buchwald had been sworn in. Bradley resigned a year later, though he was eventually exonerated in court. Buchwald said the city government was “left in limbo” in the year between Bradley’s arrest and his conviction (which was later overturned).

“I thought it was very important that White Plains turn the page,” Buchwald said. Tom Roach was appointed to fill the vacancy and remains the mayor today. While the fallout from Bradley’s arrest was, in Buchwald’s words, “not a challenge one could have expected from the outset of my tenure,” the city was also one of many dealing with the fallout of the global financial crisis.

“The challenge that every local government had at that time as we were going through the Great Recession was how to preserve high-quality services while not undermining the long-term fiscal health of the city,” Buchwald says. He also noted that the city increased the hours of the library during the heart of the recession after learning that library usage was up. Bike lanes were installed on many city streets. Perhaps most significantly, the city rezoned several of its office properties to allow mixed-use development and draw in a wider range of businesses.

“I always found [Buchwald] to be somebody that you could work together with on something and come out with a good outcome. I appreciate that kind of person,” Mayor Roach told Inside Armonk. “When you’re talking to somebody who is intelligent, who cares, who does the work, it’s always a pleasure, and David very much fits into all those categories.”

In 2012, Buchwald announced his run for the assembly. The 93rd Assembly District, with newly drawn borders, leaned strongly though not overwhelmingly Democratic. Buchwald was taking on incumbent Republican Robert Castelli, a former New York State Police Officer who had won a special election after the seat was vacated by Adam Bradley (who left the position for his ill-fated stint as White Plains mayor). Castelli was the first Republican in a generation to hold the seat in Albany and was re-elected in November 2010.

“I felt, on a number of levels, that there was a need for change in the district,” Buchwald recalls. “My predecessor, though a good man, was out of step with Westchester values and I thought I had a skill set that might appeal to voters.”

Castelli had been well-liked across the district, but Buchwald criticized the Republican for his vote against legalizing gay marriage and for voting against gun control legislation. Spurred in part by the increased turnout of a presidential election in a county where President Obama beat Mitt Romney by more than 20 points, Buchwald won with 53 percent of the vote in one of Westchester’s most closely-watched elections. “Between it being a redistricting year and a presidential year, both put me at a disadvantage,” Castelli told Inside Armonk, looking back at the election. “Had it been an off year, not a presidential year, and had it not been gerrymandered, I’m pretty that sure I would have won it.”

Buchwald ran unopposed for re-election in 2014, and announced last month that he will seek a third term. While the Republicans hadn’t settled on a candidate to oppose Buchwald as this edition went to press, Westchester GOP Chair Doug Colety said he was in the process of interviewing candidates and that the Republicans would definitely have an opponent for Buchwald this election.

Conventional thinking holds that, with Chappaqua resident Hillary Clinton leading the ticket as the Democratic presidential candidate (which looked almost certain as we went to press), any Republican running in the district will have an uphill battle. Colety, however, believes that with the right candidate and enough resources, anything is possible.

“Nobody knows what turnout is going to be,” Colety explains. “I think everything is in play.”

In the Assembly

Buchwald said he ran for the assembly in large part because the position, unlike the White Plains Common Council, allowed him to serve full-time in elected office. “The state assembly job is one that I thoroughly enjoy, and that’s both because of the work that I get to do as a legislator up in Albany but all the more because of the work I get to do here in the district,” says Buchwald. “At the heart of that is solving constituent issues.”

But while helping a constituent access Medicaid, or even cracking down on corrupt officials, may be seen as a clear positive, lawmaking is filled also with difficult votes. The state’s budget, passed this spring and signed by Governor Cuomo, included a gradual minimum wage hike to $15 an hour. Buchwald, who ran in part on raising the minimum wage from its rate at the time of $7.25 an hour (it’s now $9), supported the minimum wage hike, saying it will be a great help to many lower-income families.

“I think that, overall, it will be a net positive and most of all it will help many hard-working residents of New York State that should be encouraged based on the value of their labor,” Buchwald explains. “On some level, it will stimulate spending, because now more families will have more resources. But there’s also the argument that it could inhibit job growth.”

Among those making that argument is the Business Council of Westchester, which put out a press release detailing uneasiness within the county’s business community over the debated $15 wage floor. According to the council, nearly two-thirds of businesses surveyed oppose the plan, with 37 percent saying it would cause layoffs and 15 percent saying they’d be forced to shut their doors.

“When you say, ‘increase the minimum wage,’ it sounds great, but you have to look at the consequences,” said John Ravitz, the council’s Executive Vice President and COO. “It’s going to have a direct effect on businesses throughout the state.”

Buchwald said he had heard from opponents of the hike, but that the majority of his constituents supported it. He noted that the minimum wage jump would take place over six years in Westchester, and that budget officials will analyze the effects and can suspend scheduled hikes if need be.

“I’d say the feedback I’ve gotten has overall been quite positive,” Buchwald said. “Overall, it has yet to be seen what the net effect is going to be, though I believe it’s going to be positive because there will be more demand for goods and services produced by businesses in Westchester.”

Ravitz, for his part, said the Business Council has a strong relationship with the assemblyman and that Buchwald was also receptive to the group’s concerns.

“We’re not always going to agree,” Ravitz said. “We made sure that Assemblyman Buchwald and all the members of the assembly from Westchester knew our position on the minimum wage.”

Raising a Family in Westchester

On March 1, 2014, Buchwald married Lara Samet, a litigation attorney who had clerked for Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, David’s mother. “Lara and I hit it off right from the start,” Buchwald recalls. “She knew a lot more about me early on because she had essentially had lunch with my mom every day for a year. The more I learned about Lara, the more fascinated I was.”

A year later, David and Lara welcomed their daughter, Anna, who just celebrated her first birthday. Buchwald said he is motivated by having a daughter who will eventually attend public school in New York State.

“The fact that the state has stepped up and righted some of the past practices that shortchanged Westchester’s public schools I think is a tremendous accomplishment,” Buchwald said. He pointed specifically to increases in state aid to the Chappaqua and Byram Hills School Districts during the time he has spent in office. “For all of our children, we have to make sure that we have the best education possible in New York State.”

Though Buchwald is a White Plains resident, he says he loves visiting both Armonk and Chappaqua. He points to state funding used to repave Route 117 and Route 133 in Chappaqua, and to a new pedestrian crosswalk in Armonk. He has attended events in both communities, including the Armonk Lions Club Fol-De-Rol Ceremony and Frosty Day and the Chappaqua Rotary’s Community Day and Memorial Day Parade.

David at Grafflin waiting for Hill — David Buchwald with a group of constituents including members of “Chappaqua Friends of Hill”

“Both Armonk and Chappaqua are little slices of Americana, and getting to be supportive of both communities is very, very easy, because the people in both places are down to earth and want to see what’s best for their neighbors,” he says. “My job is to help further that vision.”

Recently in White Plains: David Buchwald–with his wife and daughter beside him–announcing a third-term run for the Assembly. — Recently in White Plains: David Buchwald–with his wife and daughter beside him–announcing a third-term run
for the Assembly.

Chappaqua and Armonk are both located near the middle of Buchwald’s 93rd Assembly District (his district office is just north of the hamlets, in Mount Kisco). While the territory he represents is diverse, the assemblyman believes that what his constituents have in common outweighs their differences.

“This is a fantastic slice of New York State to represent. I go from 40-story skyscrapers in White Plains to horse farms in Bedford and North Salem,” Buchwald says.

“Each community has its unique characteristics that make it special, but overall we have a shared vision of the need for investments in education, in our transportation infrastructure and in keeping taxes under control so that people and businesses can thrive here in Westchester.”

Andrew Vitelli is the editor of Inside Armonk magazine.

Team New Castle: Proudest Accomplishments

October 21, 2015 by The Inside Press

Team New Castle candidates (L-R): Eileen Gallagher, Seth Chodosh and Robert Greenstein

By Marianne A. Campolongo

Incumbent town Supervisor Rob Greenstein (R, IN, REF) is running with new town board candidates Eileen A. Gallagher (R, IN, REF) and Seth Chodosh (R, REF) on the “Team New Castle” ticket.

Greenstein said his proudest accomplishment since taking office in January 2014 is “how much I’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time.”

“We’ve saved over $3.3 million on our garbage contract, Worker’s Comp renewal saved half a million,” Greenstein said, enabling the town to “increase our paving budget by $600,000 from $400,000 to $1 million [and increase the] downtown beautification budget from $500 (I’d put in parenthesis–that’s not a typo) to $25,000. We’re providing the funding that should have been provided forever,” he said. According to figures from Greenstein, the garbage contract savings will be realized over seven years, the Workers Compensation Insurance savings with be realized in two years.

Greenstein is also proud of the Distracted Driving Campaign which has increased distracted driving tickets from 50 in the period October 1, 2013 through September 28, 2014, before the program began, to 681 tickets issued October 1, 2014 to September 28, 2015 for an estimated revenue of $68,100 versus $5,000 in the year before the program began, he said. To put that in perspective, total estimated revenue from fines was $184,490 for that same 12-month period, versus $94,300 in the previous 12 months.

He is also proud of progress made at Chappaqua Crossing. “We saved the Wallace Auditorium. It’s being donated to the town. As part of the approval process, the owner of Chappaqua Crossing has donated funds to develop a greenway path running parallel to the Saw Mill Parkway from downtown Chappaqua to the high school (the ‘ChapLine’).” He said he is also pleased that of the 120,000 square feet of retail space proposed for Chappaqua Crossing, roughly 40,000 square feet will be a Whole Foods and 40,000, Lifetime Fitness. “When I posted that there was going to be a Lifetime Fitness, I got 130 likes on Chappaqua Moms,” he said.

Under his leadership, Greenstein said, “We revamped the town website and started an eNewsletter that people love. You can sign up at www.mynewcastle.org. He is also proud of the new town welcome brochure. Greenstein also points out that they have simplified the email addresses for town government, making it easier for people to contact town officials, as well as the website set up to share up- to-date information about New Castle’s Downtown Revitalization project, www.downtownstrong.org.

Greenstein also stressed that he has been instrumental in the effort to finish up the Master Plan for the town “that languished forever.”

He likens the beginning of his term as town Supervisor to “walking into an empty house,” since, he said, there was so much to be done.

In addition to his position as Supervisor, Greenstein is an attorney in private practice. Gallagher, a freelance writer who has lived in town for 12 years, has been an active volunteer at her church, a parent manager of her son’s travel soccer team, and has served in various capacities in the PTA including Chair of Westorchard Elementary School PTA. She is active in CFRAH (Chappaqua for Responsible Affordable Housing) to advocate for safe, welcoming housing, chairing the New Castle Coyote Management Task Force, a Rotary Club member, volunteering in organizations in the larger area community.

Chodosh is an entrepreneur and adjunct professor at the Metropolitan College of NY who moved back to town in November 2014.

About the other members of his team, Greenstein says, “Eileen has been attending Town Board meetings for years. She’s been working with charities her whole life and as part of our campaigning we’ve been doing give-back projects–events where people come and donate stuff. She cares and she gets involved. Win or lose, with these projects we’ve done some good at least during the campaign. Seth and his wife grew up here and recently moved back with their young family. He brings a fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective.”

“We’re trying to keep a positive campaign. I think most people are happy with what we’ve done,” he said. You can learn more at www.teamnewcastle2015.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/TeamNewCastle2013/

One New Castle: Platform Highlights

October 21, 2015 by The Inside Press

At a fundraiser inside the Quaker Hill Tavern: One New Castle candidates (from left) Hala Makowska, Victoria Alzapiedi and Jeremy M. Saland

By Marianne A. Campolongo

Town Supervisor candidate Victoria Alzapiedi (D, WE) is running on a ticket together with town board candidates Hala Makowska (D, WE) and Jeremy M. Saland (D, IN) as team
“One New Castle.”

Why One New Castle?

“Hala, Jeremy and I are committed to bringing the community together,” said Alzapiedi, who is challenging incumbent Robert J. Greenstein (R, IN, REF) for Supervisor. “Our hope is that we will approach things in a way that hears all voices and perspectives of all residents in hopes of finding common ground –even when we disagree–and find effective solutions in the best interests of our entire community. We don’t want to shut down those who have different perspectives. We want to take an inclusive approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities faced
by our community.”

One New Castle has presented a four-pronged platform: responsible hamlet development, spending and investing wisely to save tax dollars, planning intelligently to preserve the environment and quality of life, and creating ethical, inclusive, responsible, and transparent government.

If elected, according to Alzapiedi, she and her team intend to “finish and implement a true Master Plan.” She said they are “very concerned that the current Master Plan doesn’t include Chappaqua Crossing. That will be a third hamlet.” As such, it “can have a huge impact on the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood.” Her team wants to determine “how they can function in a complementary way that will serve to boost all businesses.”

In order to develop a “robust dynamic downtown,” Alzapiedi noted that the “future needs of retail are different. We need innovative ways to bring people into businesses and create a sense of community. We need spaces for the community to come together.”

One of those spaces she would like to see is “a destination style playground… [which will] provide families both in and outside of New Castle a reason to come to downtown Chappaqua or Millwood. Utilizing soft touch products in conjunction with natural, manmade and recycled materials, a themed playground integrating stand alone and interactive water features, slides, climbing structures, tunnels and swings would not only give families who don’t have access to pools or other easily accessible sources of recreation an opportunity to get together and and grow memories, but bring much needed foot traffic and business to shops and stores that may otherwise be adversely impacted by Chappaqua Crossing,” she said.

Another way to encourage downtown business and community spirit Alzapiedi envisions is “Saturday under the Stars” at the train station plaza with food trucks and dancing. She believes this “could complement the new restaurant going into the train station to enhance that.”

An attorney and management consultant who started and ran a non-profit youth development program for eight years, Alzapiedi said, “We want to create a youth advisory board of middle school and high school kids who can advise the town on issues that affect them. Here we have these great schools but if you go downtown, kids are hanging out at Starbucks and nail salons.” She envisions the board giving the town’s youth a greater voice in recreational programing at the library and elsewhere.

If elected, Alzapiedi and her team plan to continue and expand on the current e-newsletters to “to keep people posted on developments and proactively keep them informed by sharing meeting agendas in advance so they can participate and weigh in,” she said.

Alzapiedi has held several public service positions both in New York and in Washington D.C. Since moving to town in 2008, she has been Co-Chair of the New Castle Conservation Board, Chair of the New Castle Coyote Awareness and Safety Advisory Committee, and a member of the League of Women Voters. Makowska, a 16-year town resident, former volunteer firefighter, and Chair, Millwood Board of Fire Commissioners, has also served on the Master Planning Steering Committee, the Millwood West End Advisory Committee, and on the board of WENT (West End Neighborhood Taxpayers). Attorney Jeremy Saland, a town resident for nine years, has served as New Castle Town Prosecutor since 2010. He has also coached T-ball, baseball and soccer in New Castle.

“I’m proud to be running with Hala and Jeremy. They are both smart, thoughtful people with great ideas, a love for our Town, and solid track records of serving the needs of our community,” said Alzapiedi.

You can learn more about One New Castle on their campaign page www.onenewcastle.org and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/onenewcastle

Marianne A. Campolongo is a photojournalist living in Chappaqua. Check out her blog at www.travelstockblog.com.

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Editor’s Note: One of Seven Girls’ Essays featured in the November “If Our Neighbor Becomes President” Cover Story. The girls were directed by Keri Walsh, Ph.D., who heads the Chappaqua Summer Writing Program for Girls at the Greeley House.