Mamaroneck REVIEW THE
April 15, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 16 | www.mamaroneckreview.com
Trustees push to change TV board makeup
Yet another deal
By JAMES PERO Staff Writer
A revised agreement to hand over the operations of Rye Playland to Standard Amusements is set to slash $26 million in proposed county-funded projects, if approved. For story, see page 14. File photo
Nonprofits feeling effects of Westchester County budget cuts By JAMES PERO Staff Writer Months after the passage of the 2016 Westchester County budget that solidified significant cuts to nonprofit organizations across the county, some organizations—including those that provide crucial public services— are already feeling the pinch. According to Laura Schwartz, the executive director of April’s Child, an organization that provides social services to abuseprone children and families across the county, her organization has been among the hardest
hit. “We’re feeling the pain right now,” she said. “We’ve lost a lot of money.” Schwartz said that the recent cuts to her organization have been the largest slash in governmental funding she’s seen in her 23-year tenure at April’s Child, headquartered in White Plains. The entirety of a previous $204,000 social services contract between April’s Child and the county, she explained, has completely disappeared. The results have been substantial reductions in both the organization’s full-time staff and the
breadth of services it’s able to provide to county residents, she said. According to Schwartz, since the cuts were made, April’s Child has been forced to lay off three of its four full-time staff members. And now, with the executive director being the only full-time staffer, the organization employs three part-time staffers in their place. “The impact, financially to the agency, was mitigated by three people losing their jobs,” Schwartz added. “But you’re putting three people on unemployment who maybe can’t af-
ford their rent.” More importantly, Schwartz said, some of the families that her organization services can no longer receive help as a result of the county’s budget sequestration; even despite restoration of 75 percent of the proposed cuts during last-minute budget deliberations. Since January, April’s Child has been forced to reduce the number of people in its care by about 90 adults and 170 children, Schwartz said, marking an approximately 50 percent decrease BUDGET continued on page 5
A resolution to define how the village of Mamaroneck selects its representative to the LMCTV Board of Control will make its way to public hearing following concerns from trustees who claim the process has become undemocratic. According to a new proposed law, the person selected to represent the village on the Board of Control would be appointed by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees. According to Trustee Leon Potok, a Democrat, while Mayor Norman Rosenblum, a Republican, has served as the board’s representative since his first term in 2010, the mayor’s role isn’t exclusive to his office. “No one ever questioned why he’s the one serving,” Potok said. Potok, who along with the other two Democratic trustees on the board asked the village’s lawyers to look into what legal precedents dictate how the Board of Control representative is chosen, said that Rosenblum has assumed the role sans vote; a contradiction to proper procedure. “We have not taken a vote during the time Rosenblum has been mayor,” Potok said, adding that it has been about seven years. The LMCTV Board of Control is the governing body responsible for disbursing funds to the public access station and
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also oversees major decisions that relate to the station; for instance, the recent plan to consolidate their headquarters within a defunct firehouse on Mamaroneck Avenue. The board is made up of representatives from the villages of Mamaroneck and Larchmont, as well as the town of Mamaroneck. According to Assistant Village Manager Dan Sarnoff, Village Attorney Charlie Goldberger found no statute that states the mayor is to be the Board of Control’s representative. Defining the procedure is important for a couple of reasons, according to Potok. One of the major benefits, he said, is that it will add more transparency to the process of choosing the representative by bringing it to a public vote of the board. Rosenblum, however, sees the move as an affront on his position as mayor; one of many attacks against his office, in his opinion. “This is coming from the Democratic majority on the board,” Rosenblum told the Review. “It’s a continued petty attack.” Resolutions passed by board Democrats since the beginning of the year have also targeted the responsibilities of the mayor, including efforts to alter the role of who sets meeting agendas and even the mayor’s use of village facilities and parking spaces. Potok, however, said that the
‘Man of La Mancha’ delivers a hit Story on page 12.
LMCTV continued on page 9