January 27, 2017 by The Harrison Review

Harrison REVIEW THE

January 27, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 4 | www.harrisonreview.com

Resident covers march, inauguration with PBS By SIBYLLA CHIPAZIWA Assistant Editor

A two-day gun show at the Westchester County Center was embroiled in further controversy after pictures of pro-Nazi books and Confederate flags surfaced. The Review was also denied access to the weekend event in White Plains. For story, see page 6. File photo

Latimer bill would allow county to tax state land By FRANCO FINO Staff Writer State Sen. George Latimer has introduced a bill that would authorize Westchester County to collect taxes from certain state lands in its region. Latimer, a Rye Democrat, told the Review that he proposed the bill in hopes that the county would be granted the same authority as Rockland and Putnam counties, for which the state has paid property taxes to for several years. “I think Westchester should have the same deal as Rockland and Putnam,” he said. “It’s a matter of fairness.” Rockland was granted the ability to tax state land in the

mid-90s under former Gov. George Pataki, a Republican; Putnam’s ability to tax went into effect in 2007. The bill would ultimately amend the real property tax law and would grant Westchester the ability to tax stateheld land. However, it would not allow the county to tax buildings erected on state property. According to Latimer, his proposed legislation came as a result of discovering the state’s unusual system of taxing its public land, which is typically exempt from taxes in other states. County Legislator David Gelfarb, a Rye Brook Republican, said the desirability of the bill, which Latimer submit-

ted last November at the end of the 2016 legislative session and again this month for the 2017 session, is its potential to provide an additional revenue stream for the county and local municipalities that contain state-held land. “If this is allowed in other counties, there’s certainly no reason to treat Westchester unfairly,” Gelfarb said. “We need that revenue source to provide basic municipal services for residents and taxpayers.” While there is currently no estimate for any number of projected revenue Westchester could gain as a result of a change in the law, according to Latimer, research is being conducted by the several municipalities, including the as-

sessor’s office in the town of Bedford, which is among the communities in the county where there is state land. The Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, a state-owned prison, is located in Bedford, and is encompassed in the 7,000 acres of state-held land in the county. Other notable state-held properties include the Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park and the Donald J. Trump State Park in the town of Yorktown, and the Rockefeller State Preserve in the town of Mount Pleasant. While he is optimistic about the support for the bill, Latimer said there is still the issue of the other 59 counties BILL continued on page 9

As America’s oldest president was sworn in and millions worldwide marched against his nascent administration, a group of 10 Ithaca College journalism students was helping a national news outlet get a sense of what was happening on the ground. One of those students was Reesa Hylton, a Purchase resident and sophomore journalism major. The students, chosen by their professors, traveled to Washington, D.C., to cover the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on Friday, Jan. 20, as well as the Women’s March on Washington the following day with PBS NewsHour. Some students helped PBS’ social media and digital production teams, while others were on general assignment, conducting interviews and gathering footage of the historic events. Hylton, 19, worked with one of the social media teams, dispersing into the crowd and speaking with attendees of both historic events, and then tweeting them out to PBS’ social media managers for further dissemination. What she gathered from her experience were the varying viewpoints of many of the participants at both events. Hylton said the march for women’s rights was the polar opposite of what she experienced on Inauguration Day. “Saturday was a lot more positive and hopeful, even though [people were] protesting a situation that, for many people, is not ideal,” she said, adding that the she saw the march as “uplifting.”

Hylton added that the inauguration was exciting in its own right, as it provided her and her fellow student-journalists a huge opportunity to witness the final step in the peaceful transition of power from one administration to another. There was added security compared to the march, and one word she used to describe the event was “intense.” “[The atmosphere] felt like it was coming from a place of strong discontent,” Hylton said. “What we learned from a lot of the people we interviewed is the reason that they supported Trump was because they were really unhappy with how everything was going.” She added that responses on Friday were “gritty,” and that while there was excitement that their candidate won the presidential election, the feeling among some attendees, though surprisingly diverse, she said, was not “totally inclusive of everyone.” Hylton said it was also interesting to see “less extreme” Trump supporters, who were willing to talk to her group, despite the distrust that has developed in some citizens, most notably Conservatives and Republicans, toward the press following the presidential race. One moment that stood out to Hylton at the inauguration was seeing a group of people who met at the Washington Mall— complete strangers—deciding to protest Trump and stand up for their beliefs together. “I thought that was a really special moment, where they felt so at home with [each other],” she said. INAUGURATION continued on page 8