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Every week more than 7,000 households in Scarsdale, Edgemont and Hartsdale enjoy the award-winning reporting and photography of The Scarsdale Inquirer. No other source in print or online provides more thorough coverage of local government, schools, sports, arts and business. Our readers have been in the know for more than a century since The Inquirer was founded in 1901. Sub-scribers enjoy convenient and reliable home delivery to their mailboxes every Friday for only $39/year. Subscribe today!

Village wants conversation with monitor

about affordable housing requirements

By DEBRA BANERJEE

James Johnson, the federal monitor overseeing the implementation of the 2009 Affordable Housing settlement between Westchester County and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has been invited to meet with village officials to discuss his analysis of zoning in Scarsdale and a “report card” giving the village bad marks.

Scarsdale was one of 31 communities identified as predominantly white in the settlement, and a named locale for some of 750 units of affordable housing the county must build for $51.6 million within the next 10 years. As of the 2000 census, 4 percent of the population in the village is Hispanic or African-American. Johnson found Scarsdale’s zoning to be exclusionary.

“We are waiting to hear back,” village manager Al Gatta told the Inquirer Wednesday.

Johnson is working under a June 14 deadline to prepare a status update for the Federal District Court. He found that in Scarsdale, the few areas in which multifamily housing is allowed as-of-right are "fully built out" and recommended that the village offer “incentives for affordable housing, mapping additional areas where multifamily housing is permitted as-of-right,” and permitting accessory housing in garages. Read more >

Scarsdale’s hometown news source

Vote yes
on school budgets

For decades, Scarsdalians have demonstrated unflagging support for their schools by voting in favor of the school budget — and higher taxes — each May. Residents old and young, families with children in the public schools and couples whose children have flown the nest unite in support of the budget. It’s not just a matter of altruism. Excellent schools attract new residents and keep property values high. 

This year’s $145 million budget has garnered more controversy than usual, due to a $325,000 allocation for a fitness center to be installed in space below a gym. We understand some of the objections to the center. As the road to economic recovery gets longer and more obstacle-ridden, it’s easy to regard the center as a luxury and the school board as insensitive to residents’ diminished income.

But that’s not the case. 

The center has been in the planning stage for years. Earlier this week The Journal News reported that fitness centers are “trending” in local high school physical education programs, and already use in schools in Ramapo, Cross River and Harrison. The $325,000 in this year’s budget will be added to $650,000 reserved for capital projects in last year budget.

Read more >