nyinc.com reports on the Cushman & Wakefield third quarter 2010 report for the Westchester County commercial real estate market.
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY— Cushman & Wakefield released its third quarter 2010 report for the Westchester County commercial real estate market, showing a market with minimal leasing activity that reflects an economy trying to regain its footing. There was a slight increase in overall vacancy and absorption, albeit negative, but improvement over the previous quarter throughout the county.
Read the full story here.
The Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) reports that Anna Maggio is the new Director of Special Services for the Somers Central School District. That position leads the Special Education Office. The former director Shelley Fleischmann recently announced her resignation in order to pursue a professional opportunity elsewhere. Maggio was the School District’s Director of Secondary Education. In a letter home to parents, the Personnel Office of the District said, “With her expertise in the area of special education and her knowledge and experience within the district, we know that Anna will help to ensure a smooth transition to this new role and will continue to move our special education department forward.”
Let the debate begin! The October issue of Westchester Magazine ranks the “Best Places To Live” in Westchester County. Somers ranked 31 out of 40, although the Town received high grades for Housing Costs and Parks and Recreation. Somers got low marks for Shopping, Diversity, Proximity to NYC, and Proximity to the Hudson River/LI Sound. The subjective categories and weightings are sure to spark conversation about what is important to quality of life. In the City-Data Forum at City-Data.com, one poster remarked: “Fortunately my criteria weighting is pretty much the reciprocal of Westchester Magazine's, so all I have to do is turn their ranking upside down.”
The magazine admits they are “gluttons for punishment [as they] we dared to tackle the unthinkable—we’ve numerically ranked (virtually) every place there is to live in our county, from best to worst.” Ranked number one is Irvington, followed by Ossining, at number two. Ahead of Somers, ranked at number 30 is Rye; Briarcliff Manor is number 32. Where do our neighbors Bedford, Lewisboro, North Salem and Yorktown rank? Some lower, one higher.
The article is available at Westchester Magazine’s web site.
Naplesnews.com ran this photo with the following caption: Noah Sanz, 8, of Somers, N.Y. proudly displays a Spanish mackerel he caught in Big Carlos Pass in early September. Noah and his family were visiting his grandparents Max and Iris Sanz of Bonita Springs.
More info is at the Town web site. Photo is from Big Belly Solar web site.
Back in January, several individuals risked their lives to rescue two adults who had fallen through the ice at Muscoot Reservoir in Somers. Six of those were honored at the annual Somers Police Awards ceremony held during the Town Board meeting on September 2. Among those honored were Troopers Paul Carinci and Timothy Gleason of the New York State Police, Somers Police Officer Peter Gobbo, Somers School District employee Kenny Schirmer as well as Michael Gorian. The sixth awardee was not present. The men formed a human chain and rescued the two persons that fell through the ice and had been in the water for at least 25 minutes.
The video of the presentation by Chief Driscoll is here starting at 19:52 on the tape counter and at about 10:42 in running time.
Accounts of the rescue are in the August 2010 edition of the Hudson Valley Firefighter at page 11 and in the Chappaqua-Mount Kisco Patch in a story by Jonann Brady on January 29, 2010.
More than 500 are expected when Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York says the Mass of the Holy Spirit at Kennedy Catholic High School on Friday. Friday is the first full day of classes and that day traditionally begins with Mass, although the Archbishop is not the usual celebrant so this is a special event. The Hall Monitor blog at LoHud.com quotes Rev. Mark Vaillancourt, president/principal of Kennedy Catholic: “While it’s always a special occasion when the Archbishop comes to your school, this is even more so considering all that we’ve been able to accomplish in our first year as a private school."
See the Westchester Herald story here.
Parks & Recreation is holding a free family concert featuring Calypso Simon Says-Do the Limbo- Jam w/ Band. The concert is from 6 to 8 pm at Bailey Park on Sunday, September 12. For more information, call Parks & Recreation 914-232-8441
On 09/04/2010 at approximately 10:21 PM, the State Police in Somers arrested Ronald E. Pietruska , 61 years of age from Carmel, NY for driving while intoxicated. Subsequent to a stop at a DWI stationary road check on SR-35 in the Town of Somers, Mr. Pietruska was found to be intoxicated with a BAC of 0.13%. Mr. Pietruska was issued uniform traffic tickets returnable to the Town of Somers court.
http://the390.com/feature/dwi-enforcement-in-somers-results-in-4-arrests
Block Party For Hannah Monte
Clubs and organizations, led by the Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce, are organizing the Somers First Block Party to benefit Hannah Monte in her fight against cancer. The event is scheduled for Sunday October 3rd on Tomahawk Street.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Somers-NY/Somers-Block-Party/155962147749147?v=wall
Books For Troops
The Somers Rotary Club sent over 500 paperbacks to US Troops in Afghanistan. LoHud.com September 5, 2010.
Rescue Of Woman
Ernie Osborne rescued an 80 year-old Somers woman after she fell in her home and spent 14 hours in pain, stranded on her foyer's floor. LoHud.com September 2, 2010 . Osborne is a founder of Somers At Home, a nonprofit dedicated to helping seniors stay in their homes.
Check out BookMyne an application for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch that lets users access the Library’s online catalog. With this App, you can search, renew and request library materials from these Apple devices as you can do from your computer when you access the Westchester Library System online from the Somers Library web site. BookMyne is free. More information at the iTunes store or here.
LoHud.com reports that the new school tax rate for the portion of Somers in the North Salem School District is $126.86 per $1000 in assessed value, an increase of 6.3 percent. The percent increase in Carmel is 15.9, and the tax rate in North Salem grew by 0.8 percent.
A special edition of Trunkline, the School District newsletter, welcomes and introduces Dr. Raymond H. Blanch, the new Superintendent for the Somers Central School District.
Dr. Blanch served for three years as Superintendent of the Lewis-Palmer School District in Colorado, before resigning in June. He was in that District for nine years, starting as a principal of an elementary school. The Colorado school district has 10 schools and 5,500 students. Somers has four schools and about 3500 students. He began his education career teaching first and second grade.
At the time of his resignation, the press release sent out by the Colorado District said, “When Blanch was hired as superintendent, the district faced a myriad of financial issues, and he successfully led the district from a deficit spending budget with minimal reserves to its current positive financial position.” According to one Colorado community newspaper, many thought Blanch’s resignation was “forced by the board of education”, notwithstanding “overwhelming support for Blanch by teachers and parents”.
Blanch is 42 and grew up in Syracuse, NY. He is married with four children, one in college and three that will enroll in Somers schools once the house in Colorado is sold. His contract for Somers is for three years with a first-year salary of $225,000.
See the related story by Art Cusano in NCNLocal.com here. Photo is from NCNLocal
Monday, September 6th, is the 26th Labor Day Antiques Fair from 10 AM - 5 PM on the main lawn at Lasdon Park, Arboretum & Veterans Memorial in Somers. As many as 70 booths are expected. The event is run by Cord Shows. Admission is $7 (free for those under 13 years old) to benefit the Glass House Fund at Lasdon Park.
For information, phone Cord Shows at 914-273-4667 or visit cordshows.com
The Somers Town Board yesterday released its agenda for its regular meeting/work session scheduled for Thursday, September 2, 2010.
The Annual Police Awards are scheduled for that meeting. Also on tap are public hearings related to Comcast and Best Plumbing. Best Plumbing wants Saturday showroom hours. Based on prior hearings, residents of Whitlock Court and nearby Route 138 are likely to oppose this request saying that at the time of the issuance of the original special use permit, neighbors made many concessions in exchange for peace and quiet in the evenings and weekends. The area is zoned residential.
The full agenda for the meeting is here.
