Northern Westchester

Note from Liz: Here’s a guest blog post from the incomparable Patrice Costa. Take it away, Patrice!

As soon as you meet Joe DiMauro, owner of Mount Kisco Seafood, with his warm smile and big personality, he makes you feel right at home.   He is a true fish expert, but that comes as no surprise since he’s been Mount Kisco’s local fishmonger for over 30 years (as well as the owner of The Fish Cellar for 14 years which closed this past January).

(All photos by Margaret Rizzuto Photography)

At times, I find purchasing seafood to be a daunting task:  Can I substitute red snapper for branzino?  How do I prepare arctic char?  Where does the fish come from?  Is it on the seafood watch sustainable list?  What about mercury levels?  It’s enough to make my head spin, but Joe and his extremely knowledgeable staff made it so easy.  From the minute I walked into the store, I was impressed by their friendly and helpful attitude.   I wasn’t the least bit rushed, and they were happy to answer all my questions.

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The second annual Great Chappaqua Bake Sale is bringing tasty treats to South Greeley Avenue on Saturday to raise money to fight childhood hunger. Last year the sale raised almost $6,000 for Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale campaign and its No Kid Hungry initiative. Nationally the sales raised $1 million in 2010.

This year’s goal is $10,000.

More than one-third of those who are hungry in Westchester County are children and more than 17 million children in America are at risk of hunger. All of the proceeds from the Great Chappaqua Bake Sale will fund programs in New York State that feed hungry children.

The sale is Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 1 South Greeley Avenue (next to Chappaqua Framing). There’s also a raffle with $15,000 in prizes from local businesses, gym memberships, birthday parties, music, ballet and gym classes for kids, Yankee, Mets and Broadway show tickets, free weeks at premier local day camps, shopping parties and pampering packages, in-home cooking lessons and more.

To purchase raffle tickets or to make a donation click here. Tickets are $20 each or 6 for $100 and can be purchased online up until Friday evening. You need not be present the day of the bake sale to win.

The Journal News/LoHud.com Editorial Board holds endorsement interviews with candidates in key contests on the Nov. 8 ballot. Voters may watch LIVE online at www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight; questions can be submitted via our CoverItLive live-blogging feature.

The following endorsement hearings are scheduled:
Oct. 4: 1 p.m. Stony Point supervisor
Oct. 4: 3 p.m. Rockland Legislature, Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8
Oct. 5: 1 p.m. Putnam County executive
Oct. 5: 3 p.m. New Rochelle mayor
Oct. 11: 1 p.m. Rockland Legislature, Districts 9, 10 and 11
Oct. 11: 3 p.m. Rockland Legislature, Districts 13, 14, 16 and 17
Oct. 12: 1 p.m. Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 1, 2 and 3
Oct. 12: 3 p.m. Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 4, 5, 6 and 7
Oct. 18: 1 p.m. Clarkstown supervisor
Oct. 18: 3 p.m. Orangetown supervisor
Oct. 19: 1 p.m., Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 9, 10, 12 and 13
Oct. 19: 3 p.m., Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 14, 15 and 17
Oct. 25: 1 p.m. Rockland County Sheriff
Oct. 25: 3 p.m. Ramapo supervisor
Oct. 26: 1 p.m. Yonkers mayor
Oct. 26: 3 p.m. Mount Vernon mayor

Interviews for Westchester and Putnam candidates take place in our White Plains office, 1 Gannett Drive. Interviews for Rockland candidates take place in our West Nyack office, 1 Crosfield Ave. Candidates needing more information can contact Nancy Cutler at ncutler@lohud.com or 845-578-2403.

Voters guide
The 2011 local elections determine who represents you on the county, town and village level. Visit www.lohud.com/candidates to find out who’s running, and where the candidates stand on the issues.

Calling all candidates
The Journal News and LoHud.com wish to hear from candidates vying in local Westchester, Rockland and Putnam elections.

Please send us an email including your full name, home address, daytime phone number and an active email address to elections@lohud.com. In both the subject line and body of the email, be sure to indicate which office you are vying for. The information will be used by our news and opinion staffs to contact and correspond with candidates. Additionally, the email address will be used to send candidates a questionnaire that will form the basis of an online guide for voters.

Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center in Yorktown has received a $25,000  grant from the MBIA Foundation.

Hilltop Hanover Farm is a 187-acre Westchester County owned crop farm and environmental center. The farming production and educational classes are managed by the Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center Inc., a 501©(3) tax-exempt organization, in cooperation with the County of Westchester.

“In 2010 Hilltop Hanover Farm donated 4 tons of produce to area food pantries, food banks, soup kitchens and homebound seniors; the receipt of this generous grant from MBIA Foundation will allow us to continue and strengthen our commitment to the neediest of our community,” said Friends President Helen Brady.

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Here’s a glance at today’s opinion content:

PEF’s rejection: Editorial
We comment on news that the Public Employees Federation, the second largest union of state employees, rejected a package of give-backs negotiated with the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. We write:

… The rejected deal, apropos of these post-recessionary times, largely mirrored the no-layoffs pact easily ratified by the Civil Service Employees Association last month: It provided for a three-year freeze on wages, followed by 2 percent raises in the fourth and fifth years; nine days of furloughs, four of which would be repaid at the end of the contract term; and increased employee health care costs.

Broad protections against layoffs would have been in force the next two years.

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Horace Greeley graduate Jared Weintraub is competing on NBC’s “The Sing-Off” with his a cappella group The Deltones from the University of Delaware. In the show, sixteen groups compete to be declared the best a cappella group in the country.

The judges are Sara Bareilles (“Love Song” and “King of Anything”), Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five) and Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) and the grand prize is $200,000 cash and a Sony Music recording contract. Nick Lachey is the host.

The show runs Mondays from 8-10 p.m. The Deltones will perform next on Oct. 10. (more…)

Five North Salem High School students have been named Commended Students in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program. Read on for the announcement from the school:

COMMENDED STUDENTS IN THE 2012 NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

North Salem, NY September 30, 2011

The principal, Dr. Patricia Cyganovich, of North Salem High School, announced today that Mr. Gregory McKeon, Mr. Cody Nager, Mr. Eric Quinn, Mr. Luke Raskopf and Mr. Shiv Saxena have been named Commended Students in the 2012 National Merit® Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, were presented by the principal to these scholastically talented seniors.

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The New Castle Police Department has issued a traffic advisory for Bedford Road/Route 117 near Cowdin Lane and are advising drivers to avoid the area. Here’s the announcement:

Due to utility work Bedford Road in the area of Cowdin Ln will be reduced to one lane of traffic between the hours of 8AM to 4PM. The lane restriction will last for an estimated 2 week period. Flag people will be present. Congestion and delays are likely. Use of alternate route is suggested.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the blunt Republican whose efforts to lessen taxpayers’ burdens have made headlines across the nation, continues to stand firm that he is not going to seek his party’s nomination for president in 2012.

Do you think he should enter the race? Do you think he’d be a good candidate? Share your thoughts with us:

Good morning. Here’s a look at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Mandate relief: Editorial
We comment on news that Bedford town officials voted to create a local law to override the 2-percent property tax cap. We encourage Gov. Andrew Cuomo to get serious about mandate relief. We write:

Some towns are already signaling their 2012 budgets could surpass New York’s new 2 percent property-tax cap on local tax levies. Expect similar Hamlet-like struggles from counties and school districts as they look for ways to meet the cap and provide the services their constituents demand.

This should come as little surprise: The tax cap, by itself, is a blunt instrument. It provides a ceiling, but not the steps to get there.

New Yorkers, who struggled to lose the mantle of “most taxed in the nation” amid their sinking fortunes of the Great Recession, demanded it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who cajoled, berated and begged the state Legislature to pass the cap, gave the people what they wanted.

Now we need the sequel: mandate reform, government consolidation and more discussion among taxpayers on what they are willing to pay for, and what they will do without. …

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