February 19, 2010
by Christine Yeres

A live receptionist who is a certified notary public will continue to answer the main number for New Castle Town Hall, 238-4771, from 8:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. But from 1:00 p.m. until town hall closes at 4:30 p.m., a recorded message directs callers to the various departments there. The robo-system – a cost-cutting measure by the town board – has been in place for close to a month.

Meeting begins at 8:15 in the Academic Commons at Greeley
UPDATE: December 15, 2009
by Christine Yeres

Over the weekend, NewCastleNOW.org spoke with Board of Education President Jeffrey Mester about tonight’s budget presentation and the first of the board’s 2010-2011 budget discussions. Mester assigned approximate times for the main agenda items, stating that immediately following a brief presentation at 8:15 p.m. by Seven Bridges’ “Kids against Pollution” club members, the board would reveal the results of the two focus groups conducted last week.  Two groups of residents were queried on how the board can engage residents in helping to craft a budget for a year in which state monies will likely be less and local school expenses greater.

November 30, 2009

Editor’s note: The first 148 comments were published in our Friday, November 27 issue. New comments submitted since that date start at number 149.

For your convenience, we have reprinted the preface and the survey questions below followed by a complete listing of all 221 comments received.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
by Christine Yeres

The planning board submitted its comments on developer Summit Greenfield’s draft environmental impact statement to the town board on Friday, September 25, the last day for written comment. In its first section, “Overall Development Concept,” the planning board touches on the affordable housing element of the project, the desirability of a town pool and library branch, and recommends “a less dense alternative” to the 278 residential units proposed.

March 12, 2010

Tax Assessor John McGrory will meet with residents who believe their assessed values are too high. Before you decide to darken his door, though, McGrory says be prepared to answer Assessment Clerk Jackie MacMahon’s questions. “She’ll say, ‘OK, take your assessed value and divide it by .1841—because we believe that 18.41% will be the level of assessment ratio—and that will be your market value on the first of June, 2010.  It is this market value figure that you would consult to determine whether your assessment is correct.

Chief Joe Rod, Commissioner Hala Makowska, Captain Jorge Rodrigues and Commissioner Alan Schapiro
March 12, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Word went out six months ago that monies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, were available for the asking—some arduous, persistent asking. Millwood Fire Captain Jorge Rodrigues offered to take up the task, and Chief Joe Rod told him, “Go for it.” “Rodriguez took this on and he worked with Alan Schapiro, one of the fire department’s commissioners,” said Rod, and after months of consulting records and checking every piece of personal protection equipment, with a little help from grantsareus.com the fire company landed the funds.

March 8, 2010 REPRINTED March 12
by New Castle Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard

I wish to let residents know that the Town Board [did] not [vote] on the Proposed Tree Preservation Law this [past] Tuesday, March 9.  Many comments have been received and we are continuing to receive more.  In order to give due consideration to the issues raised, we will close the Public Hearing and have the proposed statute revised to address various concerns.

March 5, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Here’s the kind of sticky situation that representatives at every level of government face: What to fund, and where to find the money.  Newly-elected State Assemblyman Robert Castelli, who represents New Castle, is holding a press conference and rally today at 11:00 a.m. at John Jay Homestead in Katonah, home of one of the nation’s founding fathers and the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His purpose: To save this historic site from Governor Paterson’s budget axe.

New York State Assembly-elect Robert Castelli is sworn in by former New Castle Town Supervisor and judge, Charles Banks.
February 19, 2010
by John Ehrlich

Robert Castelli, the underdog victor in the 89th Assembly District Special Election, took the oath of office Tuesday and called for cooperation among Albany legislators.  “The vitriolic comment needs to stop,” Castelli said, reminding the nearly 100 in attendance at Mt. Kisco’s American Legion Hall that “we are first neighbors.”  “Its not a Democratic job and not a Republican job. It’s the peoples’ job.”

County must resubmit its plan by March 12, 2010
February 19, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Municipal officials across Westchester are beginning to wonder whether the federal monitor appointed to oversee the fair and affordable housing settlement is as flexible as he was portrayed by the legislators who approved the affordable housing settlement over the summer.  The terms of the settlement require 31 of the county’s municipalities to build 750 units of affordable housing and to “affirmatively further fair housing” in marketing them. 

February 19, 2010
by Christine Yeres

On February 10, 2010 Federal Monitor James E. Johnson of Debevoise & Plimpton LLC sent the county his critique of its Implementation Plan, or IP, for the fair and affordable housing settlement county legislators agreed to last summer.  That same day the Anti-Discrimination Center— or ADC, the entity that brought the original suit against the county—released a document highly critical of the county’s IP, entitled “Prescription for Failure: A Preliminary Report on Westchester’s Attempt to Ignore and Evade the Requirements of the Historic Desegregation Order Entered in U.S. ex rel. Anti-Discrimination Center v. Westchester County, a/k/a Westchester’s ‘Implementation Plan.’”

February 12, 2010


by John Ehrlich

In an astonishing upset, Bob Castelli, the Republican college professor from Lewisboro, handily defeated Democratic Westchester County Legislator Pete Harckham of Katonah in a special election for the 89th Assembly District seat held until recently by Adam Bradley, to whom Castelli lost in 2004. The seat has been occupied by a Democrat for the last 17 years.  Castelli garnered 55% of the vote to Harckham’s 45%. According to the Board of Elections’ still-unofficial tally of results, Castelli won with 6,732 votes to Harckham’s 5,430.  “It’s a shot across the bow to people like Sheldon Silver and all the entrenched bosses,” said Castelli in his victory speech Tuesday night.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 9: Special election for Bradley’s 89th district seat in State Assembly;
Use your usual polling places, open from 6 am to 9 pm.

Castelli, left; Harckham, right
Monday, February 8, 2010

[Editor’s Note: Last Thursday’s League of Women Voters Candidates’ Night with candidates Robert Castelli and Peter Harckham was lively and well-attended. Some of the questioners declared themselves Tea Party members.  To view the 30-minute event on your computer, click HERE and choose thumbnail on far left.  See NCCTV television channels and times in “Read more,”  as well as a list of the eight questions the candidates were asked.

January 29, 2010
by Christine Yeres

A team familiar to New Castle residents spoke in White Plains on January 14 to the Commercial and Investment Division of the Westchester-Putman Association of Realtors about the future of the Reader’s Digest site, now called Chappaqua Crossing.

A look around New Castle

January 1, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Editor’s note: NewCastleNOW.org editors have prepared this “State of the Town” list to bring the community up-to-date on this first day of the new year on some of the more pressing issues of this past year either resolved by the town board or still outstanding.

December 11, 2009
by Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard

Editor’s Note: NewCastleNOW.org has added subtitles to the supervisor’s text to identify the following subject areas:

• Monday’s referendum on police hearing officer

• Second field at Amsterdam gets green light

November 27, 2009
by Christine Yeres

At Tuesday’s town board meeting, Town Administrator Gennaro Faiella began by outlining the board’s proposed 2010 budget, then Supervisor Barbara Gerrard opened the public hearing on the budget. Six residents addressed the board and administrator chiefly on police overtime expense and burdensome taxes. The town board members offered no comments in response.

November 20, 2009
by Christine Yeres

On Tuesday, November 24, residents are invited to offer their comments on the proposed budget during a public hearing at 7:45 p.m. at town hall. Town board members will vote to approve a final budget two weeks later, on December 8. At last Tuesday’s work session, board members were still struggling to decide whether to commit the town to once-a-week garbage collection in order to bring a 4% tax increase down to 1.5%, and whether to whittle that 1.5% increase down to zero by using more reserve monies.

County affordable housing settlement and town budget are the big topics

October 23, 2009
by Christine Yeres

Sporting a League of Women Voters “NOT for Women Only” button, moderator Harry MacLaughlin, co-chair of the Bedford-Lewisboro-North Salem League of Women Voters, welcomed the audience and candidates to New Castle’s town hall Wednesday night for the League’s Candidates Night. 

In opening statements, incumbents in the three uncontested elections for town board, Supervisor Barbara Gerrard and board members John Buckley and Robin Stout, explained to an audience of about 40 people that the economy was the number one issue for the board. Gerrard is running for her second two-year term as town supervisor; Buckley and Stout are both running for their second four-year terms. The two other board members, Deputy Supervisor Elise Kessler-Mottel and Michael Wolfensohn, are in the middle of their four-year terms. The supervisor is paid $32,865 per year; board members are each paid $10,250 per year.