Saturday, September 01, 2007

NORTH ELMSFORD FLOOD COMMITTEE

I met yesterday with representatives of N Elmsford business community. They are requesting the opportunity to meet with the Town Board during work session on September 11 at 3:45 PM to discuss hiring an engineer to help come up with short term and long term solutions for the flood problem in N Elmsford.
This is a follow up to the action the Town Board took last Wednesday when we hired an engineer to come up with recommendations to solve the E Hartsdale Ave flood problem.
The Saw Mill River floods frequently--causing lots of financial hardship to businesses located in N Elmsford. The Army Corp of Engineers has been studying the problem for decades --but nothing has been done (we did get a grant a few years ago to put some private homes on stilts in Babbitt Court).
The business community would like to be part of the engineering interview process and asked that they be invited to recommend possible names of local engineering firms to submit RFPs.
The Town must take action to help them address this problem. There are short term action steps the town, county and other jurisdictions could take that might make things better. That's the purpose of the study.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bottom line, under whose jurisdiction does responsibility fall for the Saw Mill River? The State? I wouldn't want the Town to be paying a cent for anything, including a study, if it's a State responsibility.

Certainly, though, the Town could be helpful by lobbying the State for action, offering meeting space, publicizing a lobbying committee, etc.

Anonymous said...

data not drama 9.42 AM
right on the money,this is
a county,state,federal
responsibility.
Better take the key to the cash box from Feiner for the remainder
of his term,he will leave the town broke when he rides off into the sunset,having spend all these
charitable dollars on his effort to
get re-elected for the 17th and 18th year of his term.

Anonymous said...

And if no one else cares, it would be ok to leave this part of Town under water?

Anonymous said...

Good idea. The town probably can't solve the problem alone but might be able to take some actions that could reduce the extent of the flooding. The town has funds in a separate budget TIF account (not tax dollars) so should use these funds for the study.
I am pleased that the Supervisor is working on this.

Anonymous said...

"And if no one else cares ..."
Care or not, some governmental entity is legally reponsible for the Saw Mill River (State, I'd assume), so the Town can take action by holding the State accountable. Raise some hell, but do not spend a penny of Town money.

Anonymous said...

"I am pleased that the Supervisor is working on this."

I am, too. He can be a vocal activist in getting this matter attended to (and paid for) by whomever is financially and legally responsible for the Saw Mill River.

Anonymous said...

itsw also another opportunity to play politics and get his name in the papers

Anonymous said...

Were any other members of the Town Board present?
If so, please explain the difference between this meeting and the now infamous Harrison Hootenanny.
If not, when do you intend to brief the others so that "just three votes" doesn't become synonymous with "rubber stamp"?
As the Scarsdale Inquirer noted, the Supervisor seems to favor immediate action over thoughtful consideration. Either the other members of the Board need to get up to speed (which will take at least some time) or they can be accused, with some reason, as voting on something they know nothing about - becoming a "rubber stamp" for the Supervisor.
This is the heart of the problem of part-time governance. How is a poor citizen to know whether she is be well- or ill-served by the proposed legislation generated by this meeting?