REVIEW RE EW Mamaroneck REVI THE
May 27, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 22 | www.mamaroneckreview.com
Village officials, ACE meet over $75M flood project By JAMES PERO Staff Writer
CARDIAC KIDS
Mamaroneck’s softball team celebrates a 6-5 win over Yorktown in the Class A quarterfinals on May 23. The Tigers won two straight one-run games to advance to the semifinals. For story, see page 15. Photo/Mike Smith
Bomb threat at Mamaroneck High School leads to evacuation By SUZY BERKOWITZ Editorial Assistant Mamaroneck High School was part of a wave of bomb threats that hit schools nationwide on Monday, May 23, forcing local students to undergo a full evacuation. Graffiti in a bathroom on the Palmer Avenue
side of the building, indicating that a bomb was set to go off inside the school building, was discovered in the morning, and the village of Mamaroneck Police Department received a report from the school at 11:17 a.m., according to Detective Sgt. Charles Lanza. Lanza said students were
safely evacuated from the building as a precautionary measure, and the village Police Department, as well as members of the Westchester County Bomb Squad, responded to the call, sweeping the building with bomb-sniffing dogs. Upon finding no threat on the premises, police determined that it was
safe to re-enter the building. The entire call and response took an hour and a half to complete. This occurred while schools nationwide and in the United Kingdom received similar bomb threats on Monday afternoon, many around 2 p.m. in the form ThREAT continued on page 8
At a private meeting between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and multiple village of Mamaroneck officials and volunteers this week, governing and regulatory bodies were able to voice their growing concern over a proposed $75 million federal flood mitigation project. According to Tony Gelber, chairman of the village Flood Mitigation Advisory Committee, the two-hour meeting—which took place Wednesday, May 25 in New York City—addressed the scope of multiple facets of the proposed project. “The mission of the meeting is to get information,” Gelber told the Review prior to the meeting. “It would be great to get answers, and then get [those] answers to the village [residents].” According to documents obtained by the Review, the Army Corps’ official agenda included talks regarding both the Ward Avenue and Halstead Avenue bridges, the project’s aesthetics, possible real estate that would be affected by the project, as well as the project’s future. Major discussions during the meeting gravitated around the future of several bridges named in the project that could be altered or completely removed, Gelber said.
Among the bridges discussed was the Ward Avenue Bridge, which is currently recommended for complete removal in the project. According to Gelber, the Corps will look into possibly altering river flow in the area to keep the bridge, but nothing is yet guaranteed. Also among the items discussed was any real estate that might be affected by the project’s construction and easements provided to residents as a result. As far as the scope of this facet of the project, and how many residents it may affect, Gelber said, “The definite answer is that they don’t have a definite answer.” The Corps will do its best to keep the easements to a minimum, he said. Currently, the Corps lists 110 potential parcels that could fall under the project’s scope, with 88 being permanent easements and 22 being temporary. The easements—which would compensate residents for any private land that would have to be repurposed for the project’s construction—would be required for the Corps’ plan to build several thousand feet of concrete retaining wall as well as any river widening. Also in attendance were village Trustee Leon Potok, a Democrat, Mayor Norman flOOd continued on page 9