Bronxville Insider: Mayor's Column April 24, 2023.

Mayor’s Column: April 24, 2023.

“Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”  Joyce Kilmer

On this Friday, April 27, the entire nation celebrates Arbor Day.

As commemoration, we plan to plant a new beech tree to replace the one we lost to disease on Beechtree Lane, so named for that venerable and exquisite tree.

In addition, Arbor Day will signal the start of our street tree planting throughout the Village.

In the spirit of Arbor Day, the Village will redouble efforts to plant trees lost in the past decade due to storms, as well as trimming and feeding those that survived. We recognize they are our most valuable natural resource as the benefits of trees make them the best bang for the buck in preserving the character and health of our Village.

My colleagues on the Village’s Green Committee feel exactly the same way, and they are writing their column this week about the importance of what truly are the lungs of the planet.

Our double mention just emphasizes the critical need for healthy trees in our Village.

As point of history, the first Arbor Day originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska on April 10, 1872 when an estimated 1 million trees were planted in one day.

The brainchild behind this Herculean effort was J. Sterling Morton, a westward pioneer born in Detroit. Morton was a journalist who soon became editor of Nebraska’s premier newspaper, which became his voice to advocate for families and civic organizations to plant the trees/species they so missed from their home states. 
According to accounts, Nebraska City celebrated Arbor Day with grand parades and school children planting and then caring for the trees they planted.

In 1885, it became a legal holiday in Nebraska, and other states soon followed with 45 of them celebrating by 1920. The first documented Arbor Day worldwide was celebrated in the Spanish village of Mondonedo in 1594 when the entire community planted lime and horse chestnut trees and today 44 other nations worldwide celebrate the holiday.

On April 15, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt issued the, “Arbor Day Proclamation” to the school children of the United States emphasizing the importance of trees and forestry.

Forty nations now have national observances.

We all know that trees are essential as a food source, harboring wildlife, lumber, pulp and take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, but did you know that a single acre of trees could produce enough oxygen for 18 people for an entire year and absorb the same amount of CO2 produced by 26,000 car miles? Staying in the energy realm, just three trees placed strategically around a single-family home can cut summer air conditioning needs by 50%.

Trees placed in commercial areas can lower temperatures in a parking lot and break up the black top “heat islands.”

The net cooling effect of just one young healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

In all facets of the quality of life, the importance of a healthy tree stock cannot be overstated.

Trees absorb odors and pollutant gases and filter dirty particles out of the air. 
Shade from trees also slows water evaporation from thirsty lawns and parks. Trees reduce runoff by breaking rainfall, thus allowing the water to float down the trunk and into the earth below the tree. The slow runoff also prevents erosion by holding soil in place.

Of great importance is the role they play on school property and playgrounds as trees reduce UV -8 exposure by almost 50%, providing protection to children playing outdoors.

Trees on private property also produce great monetary benefit. Studies have demonstrated that 10 to 23% of the value of a residence is based on its tree stock.

More intangible, but so important nonetheless, is the value of trees in marking the seasons, calming a stark landscape, acting as neighborhood landmarks and points of identity. They also serve as symbolic links to the past when other connections have long since gone.

Recent studies also show that being around trees can have a calming effect, relaxing brain waves, and reducing our heart rates while offering our eyes visions of beauty. These varied and truly amazing benefits are why we think celebrating Arbor Day is so important and we encourage you as a family to plant a tree, native shrubs or even a patio container garden this weekend as according to an old Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Bronxville Insider: Mayor's Column.

Mayor’s Column: April 3, 2023.

I am honestly working as hard as I can to share how the Governor’s “Housing Compact” would not only affect Bronxville but all small communities especially in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties that have rail lines in their municipalities.

In the interest of full disclosure, the following, in speech like form, is what I have been sharing with other communities as well as organizations that have sought my input.

By necessity, the remarks to follow have been edited based on speaking time limits and the tone and tenor of the audience.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will just give you facts, not my view, how this Housing Compact affects a small Village such as mine, which is Bronxville, just under one square mile.

A little background:

In the Governor’s budget, school-aid will increase by 10% to $34.5 billion. Aid to municipalities will increase by zero in all categories of local assistance. It remains flat at $750 million, even though the Governor’s budget has an increase of $7 billion.

Some Food for Thought Re: the Housing Compact

In a New York Times article titled, Hochul’s Massive Campaign Fortune: Here’s Who It Came From, “Governor Hochul received the legal limit in campaign donations of $69,700 from dozens of New York City’s biggest real estate firms, including Vornado Realty Trust. Douglas Durst, who chairs the influential Real Estate Board, personally gave $55,000; members of the Rudin, Tishman and Speyer families collectively contributed more than $400,000.  All of the top executives at Related Companies maxed out in contributions.”

As stated in the Times, “Few industries gave more than real estate and frequently in large amounts and large developers are keenly watching how Hochul will not only approach large state funded capital projects, but the future of the state’s affordable housing law.”

So this is where we are.

Caveat: My community completely understands the need for affordable/workforce housing and wants to be part of a cooperative, collaborative solution. As Martin Luther King said, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." 

I have been in contact so far with over two dozen Mayors, all of whom are from Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Not one of us has been contacted by the Governor’s office as to how this law might actually play out especially in small communities.

Bronxville: Part One of the program requires a community such as Bronxville to increase housing by 3% every 3 years, which translates into 75 units per cycle. The Governor has stated that, “This legislation is to build housing for employees, this is for families; this is for senior citizens.” Given how the legislation is written, every community could meet their requirement by a developer building above market co-ops or condos, clearly not meeting the affordable objective. Given our density, which is the highest in Westchester along with Pelham and Tuckahoe, even to do that would require us to tear down existing structures and/or violate our own local zoning. But important: no affordable housing is required in Part One.

Should we miss this deadline, a mechanism will be triggered by the state for mixed income, multifamily projects, notwithstanding any local zoning, planning or land-use regulations to the contrary for the developer who steps in. This includes no height, parking, historical or environmental concerns.

We are also part of the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) compulsory new zoning law requiring the Village to pass a density law allowing 50 units per acre in the half-mile radius surrounding our train station. As written, 2/3 of Bronxville would be a transit oriented development site.

A Village of 6600 people and 2650 homes and a school capacity near 1500, the new law would allow the building of 10,000 potential new housing units. The cost of this TOD mandate would include the Village’s expenses for water and sewer service, police coverage, fire protection, road construction, parking and the education of students.

The Governor has offered $250 million statewide to help cover these costs. As example, our neighbors in Mount Vernon need this amount just to fix their current aging water/sewer infrastructure.

To be conservative, this amount of money could probably assist one medium sized city in the State, resulting in the largest unfunded mandate in State history.

As the flooding is so constant in Bronxville, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation designated our area their next to study and assist. While we are fighting hard for flood monies on the one hand, the lack of any environmental reviews would allow high-rises to be built on these same floodplains.

Like many other communities in Westchester, our infrastructure is over 125 years old and we live in a Town that’s over 350 years old. We are going to be bonding millions of dollars just to give the current residents the water and sewer services that are needed for a healthy environment.

A community with 2650 housing units expected to absorb 10,000 more units by legislation is incomprehensible.

I will end with the words of Nelson Mandela who said, “Lead from the back and let others believe they are in the front”, and less gently, the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, “You do not lead by hitting people over the head; that is assault, not leadership.”